


Doors Open From Both Sides

by mountain_born



Series: The Marvelous Tale of an Agent, an Archer, and an Assassin [32]
Category: Doctor Who (2005), Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crossover, Doctor Who/Avengers Crossover Fusion, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-23
Updated: 2015-09-27
Packaged: 2018-04-22 23:28:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 26,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4854677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mountain_born/pseuds/mountain_born
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Earth is about to go to war, and the only things standing between it and destruction are SHIELD, a team of superheroes who aren’t exactly getting along, and a certain madman with a box.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Three years ago, the _Avengers_ was rereleased in theaters at the same time that BBC America was airing Season 7 of _Doctor Who_ , and a highly demanding crossover universe walked into my brain and promptly homesteaded there.
> 
> I always knew I couldn’t just jump straight into a crossover story of the movie events. There was simply way too much to explore, too many things to explain, complex relationships to slowly build up, and too much fun to have getting to know these characters. I didn’t quite expect there to be thirty-one stories between the beginning of the series and the events of the _Avengers_ , but I’ve enjoyed every bit of it! 
> 
> Thanks and kudos once again go to my co-conspirator and enabler, **like-a-raven** , a saint among betas. (Sixty-three pages this time around!) And a damn good co-author to boot.
> 
> This fic will be posted in six chapters, with a new chapter going up every couple of days. (Mostly because the thought of coding the whole thing straight makes me want to cry.) 
> 
> I hope you enjoy it. Happy reading!

_April 2012_  
_SHIELD Helicarrier_

_“The cube is a door to the other end of space, right? Doors open from both sides.”_

Damn Barton, Fury thought. The boy had always had a knack for seeing straight into the heart of a situation. Ten PhD’s down in that lab in New Mexico, and Hawkeye had figured out what was going on with the Tesseract ahead of all of them. 

Things had been tense enough when they’d just thought that the science team was losing control of the Tesseract. Now? Now they were up to their asses in a Code Pandora. That door to the other end of space had burst open and spit out an Asgardian with designs on their whole damn planet. Fury had looked his share of zealous adversaries in the face. He’d never seen anything like what he’d seen in Loki.

Loki had taken the Tesseract, and he’d done _something_ to Barton and Selvig. Whatever it was amounted to instant brainwashing. Now they were all in the wind. SHIELD was mobilizing to respond.

Fury watched the bridge crew going about their duties from his command station. He rolled his shoulders slightly, feeling the protest of deeply bruised muscles in his chest. Barton’s bullet had hit him dead center in the tactical vest, which was still a hell of a lot better than dead center in the forehead. Barton could have easily taken him out, but he hadn’t gone for the kill shot. If Fury didn’t have two thousand other things on his mind right now, he’d wonder more about that.

Fury heard familiar footsteps coming up behind him He turned to see Coulson.

“Boss?” Coulson said. “Everything is in position. Hill will be rendezvousing with us in twenty minutes.”

“Good,” Fury said. “What’s the word on rescue and recovery at the Tesseract facility?”

“The casualty count is high,” Coulson said. “But it would have been a lot worse if we hadn’t started the evac when we did.”

To ninety-nine percent of observers, Coulson would look perfectly calm, cool, and collected. In the important ways he was. They had a job to get done and Coulson was a professional. Fury could see the signs of stress, though: tension in the shoulders, tightness at the corners of his mouth, and a steely look in his eyes. It was a vast improvement over the look barely contained panic he had worn when he’d thought Barton was down in the Tesseract facility when the whole damn thing had caved in.

Wherever Barton was, he probably wasn’t safe by a long shot, but until they had evidence to the contrary they were proceeding under the assumption that he was alive. Life and hope and all of that. Fury knew how attached Coulson was to his agents. He wasn’t taking kindly to having one of them kidnapped.

Coulson wasn’t going to be the only one.

“Have you called her yet?” Fury asked.

“I was just about to.”

Fury nodded. “We’ll need her to go collect Banner before she reports back here.”

“Understood, sir.”

Fury nodded. “Good, get on it.”

He watched Coulson migrate to a more private area of the bridge, pulling out his phone. A quiet cough at his elbow distracted him.

“Yes, Agent Friedman?”

“Sir, the Council is calling. They want to speak with you.”

This day just kept getting better.

*****

Some days Phil Coulson really hated his job.

He didn’t mind the long hours or the unpredictability. He didn’t mind the intensive training that he needed to put in to keep his field certification. He didn’t mind the paperwork (much). He didn’t even mind the danger his job entailed. Coulson would acknowledge (if only to himself) that he was something of an adrenaline junkie. He kind of liked danger, so long as he was the only one in it.

He didn’t deal so well with other people being in danger. He especially didn’t deal well with Clint or River being in danger. There was probably some Psych-drafted protocol somewhere to the effect of _Supervising officers should not view the junior agents under their command as their children._ Coulson didn’t really know or give a damn. A protocol wouldn’t change the way he felt.

He had watched the Tesseract facility fall into the earth with his heart in his throat. He’d had horrible visions of Clint’s body being recovered from the rubble, of having to tell River that he was dead.

The news he had to tell her could be worse. Coulson reminded himself of that as his call rang through.

River had been in Russia since mid-February, working to dismantle a black market arms-dealing network. Coulson caught her mid-interrogation. She started to give him grief for interrupting her until he cut through her protests.

“River. Clint’s been compromised.”

River made very short work of wrapping up her interrogation. Coulson had already dispatched a quinjet to her location to extract her, and it picked her up in the courtyard of the building four minutes later. That gave Coulson time to switch their conversation to a video feed.

“What’s the status of the search?” River asked.

River looked. . .well, she looked like she’d just beaten the shit out of half a dozen guys. Her hair was tangled and her dress was grey with dust. There was a streak of dirt across her cheek and a smear of blood—Coulson was pretty sure it wasn’t hers—on her forehead. Her voice was businesslike and her face was composed, except for her eyes. Coulson might have been intimidated by the look in them if he hadn’t known they mirrored his own.

“Every available SHIELD unit has been pulled off of operations to search for Loki and the cube,” Coulson said. Which meant that, by extension, every available SHIELD unit was also searching for Clint. “And in light of the extreme circumstances, Fury has activated the Avengers Initiative.”

This would be the first road test for Fury’s handpicked response team. 

“I’m heading into New York to talk to Stark,” Coulson continued. “Fury’s going to brief Rogers personally. We need you to bring in Banner. A second unit will meet up with you in Calcutta. They’ll be taking direction on the ground from you.”

Unlike Stark and Rogers, Bruce Banner was not likely to come in willingly, or at least not without some convincing persuasion. That was why River was being dispatched. She was good at talking people around to her point of view and putting on an appearance of being non-threatening. If that didn’t work, though, Coulson wanted her to have plenty of armed back-up.

“Understood,” River said. She looked less than thrilled at the prospect. She also looked like she was carefully weighing her next words. “Phil, you know there’s one other person we could call in.”

Coulson was already shaking his head. “I already ran it by Fury,” he said. “The answer is no. He’s adamant. He doesn’t want the Doctor anywhere near this.”

Fury had his reasons for not wanting the Doctor on hand for this crisis, and Coulson actually didn’t disagree with all of them. Bringing in the Doctor would add a highly unpredictable element to an already explosive situation. Coulson, along with Clint and River, had traveled enough with the Doctor to know that while the Time Lord was able and willing to try to jump in and save the day, his efforts often came at a cost. The Doctor was not immune from causing collateral damage.

The Doctor also had a personal tie to Loki. He had told Coulson as much last year. The Doctor had known Loki and his brother, Thor, as children. He had been something of an eccentric uncle who occasionally dropped into their lives. Coulson had been able to read enough between the lines to know that the Doctor had cared about Loki. That could complicate matters if SHIELD were to call the Doctor for help now.

“He would come,” River said. “If we called and asked him for help, you know he’d come.”

In the back of Coulson’s mind, he knew how significant it was to hear River say that out loud. She’d been raised on a lifetime of hatred, fear, and distrust of the Doctor. It was only in the last few years, since she’d told Coulson and Clint her story and since they’d started running with the Doctor, that she’d started to view him as a tentative friend. 

The fact that she was actually advocating calling him spoke volumes.

“I think you’re right,” Coulson said. “But we can’t do it. We have our orders.”

And now was not the occasion to flout the chain of command. Not on the brink of a potential global crisis.

Coulson didn’t like feeling that his hands were tied, but he also knew his job. He knew that River knew hers too, but that didn’t stop the rebellious flash Coulson saw in her eyes.

“Is that because Fury doesn’t want to hear the Doctor say _I told you so?_ ”

The Doctor had warned them about the Tesseract years ago, warned them that it might bring unwanted attention onto Earth.

“Fury’s reasons don’t matter,” Coulson said. “We have our orders. I cannot authorize taking any action outside of those orders.” He saw River open her mouth to protest, and plowed on, not letting her. “River, listen to me. It would be a violation of orders, and _I cannot authorize you to do it._ Consider carefully.”

River closed her mouth again, and the rebellious look was replaced by understanding.

“Yes, sir,” she said.

“Good.” Coulson breathed a quiet sigh of relief. “Keep me apprised of your progress with Banner. And be careful.”

*****

River ended the video call with Coulson, and contemplated the cell phone in her hand for a long moment.

 _I cannot authorize you to do it._ Coulson hadn’t said _don’t do it,_ just that he couldn’t give her permission to call the Doctor to ask for help. Fair enough. Coulson didn’t have the luxury of just chucking Fury’s orders out of the window at a time like this, nor could he give her the go-ahead to do so on an official channel.

But River had known Coulson long enough to understand that he’d effectively given her the agency to make the call herself. 

Of course, now having been given the agency, River wasn’t sure what to do.

In spite of her jab at Fury, River knew that he had good reasons for not wanting to involve the Doctor. The Director of SHIELD was not a man who was going to cut off his nose to spite his face. He wouldn’t discount the Doctor as a possible ally just out of stubbornness. And there was still a tiny part of River—that part that had been taught that the Doctor was an adversary—that held her back.

River got up from the comm station and walked back down the row of jump seats to her spot between Agent Clearwater and Agent Barkley. She’d hold off for a little while, she decided. Fury was calling up the Avengers. That told River how seriously he was taking this situation. She’d wait and see how her talk with Banner went.

But if it came down placing her trust in the Doctor and thereby disobeying explicit orders, or sidelining an asset that could help to get Clint back, River knew there would be no contest.

*****

_Military Outpost November_

They’d had to go to ground fairly quickly after escaping with the Tesseract. Loki had instructed Clint to find a place where they could hide and prepare, a place where the Tesseract would be safe from detection. This small military outpost fit the bill nicely. It was off the beaten path, largely underground, and (thanks to budget cuts) had been abandoned for five years.

Loki had “conscripted” enough men to start on the grunt work of getting the place up and running. Clint supervised as the new troops worked. He’d chosen this sub-level as the best place to set up operations, but it had been closed off for years. The lights and ventilation were now up, and they were setting up a clean area where Selvig could work on the Tesseract.

They were going to need more men, Clint thought. For what Loki had planned? They were going to need a _lot_ more men, not to mention supplies, firepower, vehicles, the list went on and on. Clint wasn’t concerned, though. He’d always been good at strategizing, drawing connections, thinking ten steps ahead. That skill was serving him well now.

Clint had never felt so clear. It was like that moment between breaths and heartbeats when he drew on a target and there was nothing in the world but him and his mission objective. It was a point of pure focus.

It was strange. Clint had been educated about mind control. He was a SHIELD agent; there was a required class. Clint had seen the effects of that kind of violation, and the idea of losing control over his thoughts and actions had always filled him with a cold sense of horror. He had tried to imagine what it must be like to be trapped inside his own head. He had run imaginary scenarios, wondering how he might break free of such a hold.

The truth was that there was no horror. There was no struggle. There wasn’t even a desire for freedom. There was just focus on the mission at hand. All Clint could summon up by way of emotion was a vague sense of clinical curiosity. He had shot Fury. He had exchanged bullets (and a large amount of automotive paint) with Hill. He had watched the entire Tesseract research facility collapse into the earth in his rearview mirror, no doubt burying some of the men and women he’d worked with. Through it all, his pulse hadn’t risen above resting.

Clint experimented a bit, trying to see if he could stir up some emotion about _something._

He thought about his parents’ deaths, both the night of the accident itself and the horrible weeks afterward when the shock had worn off and a cold new reality had settled onto his seven-year-old shoulders.

He thought about the first time he’d picked up a bow in the prop tent at Carson’s Carnival. Clint remembered the wonderment at the feeling, like he’d discovered an extension of his body that he’d never known was missing. 

He thought about the day he’d broken with his big brother, Barney, for good, losing the last link he’d had to his childhood.

He thought about the day just after he’d finished his training when he’d freaked out and decided to run away from SHIELD, sure that it was all doomed to go south. He remembered how Coulson had calmly come after him, the older agent clapping him on the shoulder and saying, “Come on, kid. Let’s go home.” Clint had gone back to SHIELD feeling like he really did have, not only a home, but a brother again.

He thought about the night when River had first told him she loved him, in that little cottage near the sea in Oban. Clint hadn’t known it was possible to feel so completely happy. He remembered how, in spite of a collection of minor injuries and the presence of Coulson sleeping on the other side of the small house, they had drawn that night out as long as they possibly could. 

He thought about a much more recent night, just a few months ago, when he’d asked River to marry him. He’d been nervous, even though they’d talked about it well beforehand and he’d gone into it knowing she was going to say yes.

He thought about the very real possibility that he was never going to see her again.

Nothing.

 _You have heart,_ Loki had said to him. Only the Asgardian seemed to have drained it dry somehow, and Clint couldn’t even summon up the will to care.

He straightened from parade rest to attention as Loki came over to join him. “Selvig should be able to start work within the next two hours, sir,” he said.

“Excellent,” Loki said. “You’re proving to be quite a valuable lieutenant. What do you have in mind next, Agent Barton?”

“I have a few ideas.”

*****

_Calcutta, India_

Bruce Banner was doing his best to stay out of everyone’s way.

That was how he survived, by making himself scarce and unobtrusive. He’d gotten used to it, moving around a lot, keeping his distance, trying to do good where he could. It wasn’t a great life, but it kept everyone safe, himself included. Bruce had managed to go more than a year without an “incident” this way.

Now he was being dragged right back into the middle of. . .something. What had Agent Song called it? _A potential global catastrophe._ So much for lying low.

They were at a small spot-lit airfield on the outskirts of the city. Bruce stood beside a SHIELD van, fidgeting with the strap of his duffle as he watched agents and ground crew checking over and stowing equipment onto a pair of jets. No one had given him much specific information, but Bruce had overheard enough to know that one of the jets was taking the strike team—eighteen big guys with big guns—back to their home base. The other was to take him and Agent Song to wherever SHIELD had set up its base of operations.

Agent Song had been largely ignoring Bruce since he’d agreed to come in quietly. She seemed preoccupied. A potential global catastrophe would probably do that. Bruce had to give SHIELD points for creativity for sending Agent Song to make contact with him. Someone must have had the sense to know that a solitary, harmless-looking young woman wasn’t going to agitate the Other Guy the way a team of soldiers would. 

She was a few yards away from Bruce now, pacing along the edge of the light cast by the spotlights. She was on the phone, apparently checking in with someone.

“Well, I won’t say that he’s happy about it, but he’s agreed to come in,” he heard Agent Song saying. “In a word? Twitchy. No, he seems to be keeping it under control.”

Bruce ducked his head slightly, telling himself that there was no point in being embarrassed that he was being discussed. 

He covertly watched her as she listened to whoever was on the other end of the call. Thus far, Agent Song had been nothing less than calm, cool, and collected. Even when he’d scared her into pulling a gun on him, that composed demeanor had barely rippled. Now he saw a shadow of anger and impatience cross her face.

“Yes, Phil, I know. Kid gloves. I heard you the first fucking time,” she said. The flare of anger seemed to burn itself out very quickly. Agent Song sighed and rubbed her forehead. “Sorry. I’m sorry. Yes, I know. I’ll try to get some sleep on the jet. I will. You, too.”

Agent Song ended her call and stood glaring out into the darkness for a moment. Then, as Bruce watched, she touched a control on the screen of her phone and raised it to her ear again. She stepped off into the shadows a few paces, but her voice drifted back to him.

“Doctor, it’s River. Whatever you’re doing, I need you to drop it and get here as soon as you can. I need your help.”

*****

_The TARDIS_  
 _Somewhere in Time and Space_

Amy and Rory were in their pajamas. The Doctor had rousted them out of bed as soon as he’d gotten off the phone with River. 

“But Loki’s supposed to be dead,” Rory said. “Everyone was sure he was dead. _You_ were sure he was dead.” 

“Yes, well clearly I was wrong,” the Doctor said irritably as he circled around the control panel, setting their course. “It has been known to happen.”

The Doctor could still hear the undercurrent of anxiety in River’s voice as she’d told him what had happened. That hadn’t sat well with him. Neither had the knowledge that Clint had been mind-controlled and kidnapped. The Doctor had a very low tolerance for his friends being threatened.

At the same time, he felt a little furl of hope. Loki was alive. The boy that the Doctor had known (the boy that on some level the Doctor felt he had failed) was alive. Yes, he had clearly crossed into red-card territory, but that didn’t mean that he was beyond help. Maybe, just maybe, there was a chance to save Loki as well as Clint.

“We’re going, yeah?” Amy asked.

“We are,” the Doctor said. “We just need to make a stop on our way.”

*****

_LaGuardia Airport_  
 _New York_

“Am I allowed to ask you how bad the situation is?” Pepper Potts asked.

“Of course,” Coulson said as he guided the black SHIELD SUV toward the hangers where the private planes were housed.

“All right. So, what are you allowed to tell me?”

It was refreshing sometimes to deal with a civilian who got how SHIELD worked. Of course, Pepper was not exactly an ordinary civilian. She understood the importance of confidentiality. She was the CEO of Stark Industries, not to mention Iron Man’s girlfriend. She was as much an asset to SHIELD as Tony Stark was. Pepper was also a rarity in that she was Coulson’s friend, one of the few outside of SHIELD that he had. 

That meant that Coulson was actually able to tell her quite a bit. Pepper did run the company that supplied a lot of SHIELD’s most advanced tech. There was no telling what they might be facing, but if the situation turned south it would be to their benefit to make sure she was up to speed.

Pepper’s face grew grimmer and grimmer as Coulson outlined what was going down. “This is going to get bad, isn’t it?” she said.

“Nothing is guaranteed, but we need to prepare for the worst,” he said, pulling up to a hanger. The Stark jet was already waiting out on the tarmac. “SHIELD is calling in all of its best assets. Our aim is to diffuse the situation before it can ever affect the public.”

“SHIELD’s best assets? Like Tony?”

“We pay his consulting fees for a reason.”

Coulson parked the SUV and retrieved Pepper’s bag from the backseat. He walked her to the bottom of the boarding ramp.

“Maybe I should stay in New York,” Pepper said, eyeing the plane doubtfully.

Coulson shook his head. “Once Stark has reviewed the packet and made whatever preparations he needs, he’s to report to SHIELD’s command post. You’ll never be cleared to come with him. You should go on to DC. If we need your help, we know how to reach you.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s printed on SHIELD business cards,” Pepper said, but she didn’t continue to argue the point. “All right, I’ll go. Good luck, be safe, and try not to let Tony get into too much trouble.”

“I’ll do my best,” Coulson said, handing over her bag and accepting a quick peck on the cheek. “Good luck in DC. I know commercial zoning can be brutal.”

Coulson’s phone rang as he was walking back to the SUV.

“Yes, sir?” he said.

“Is Stark on board?” Fury asked.

“He’s reviewing the briefing packet as we speak. I’m at LaGuardia; I’m on my way to meet the quinjet now.”

“Good, but don’t take off just yet,” Fury said. “Rogers is in, too. He’s en route from Brooklyn. He’s going to catch a ride out to the Helicarrier with you.”

“Yes, sir.”

That meant that they were three for three: Rogers, Stark, and Banner.

The Avengers Initiative was active.


	2. Chapter 2

_SHIELD Helicarrier_

Helicarrier crew quarters were not exactly designed for comfort. That was all right, River thought. She wasn’t in the mood to be comfortable.

She had been assigned to berth SPC-9, a grey metal room little more than six feet across. It contained a narrow bunk, a built-in dresser, and a small desk with a chair. The entire room hummed faintly from the vibrations of the vessel’s giant engines, holding the Helicarrier at a cruising altitude of thirty thousand feet.

River was sitting on the edge of her bunk, pulling on her boots, when the door intercom buzzed. _“It’s me.”_ Coulson’s voice sounded faintly scratchy and metallic coming through the speaker.

“It’s open,” River replied, doing up her laces.

Coulson came in carefully balancing a mug and a plate. He kicked the door closed again with his heel.

“I didn’t realize this outfit had room service,” River said, raising an eyebrow. The plate was laden with a grilled sandwich and a large pile of fries, and River’s nose detected the aroma of strong tea.

“I hazarded a guess that you haven’t eaten much,” Coulson said, handing her the mug. He pulled over the chair to serve as an improvised table, setting the plate on it. “You’re going to run yourself into the ground.”

“And a good day to you too, Mr. Pot,” River said dryly. Coulson did have her pegged; she’d only picked at an MRE on the flight out to India. To her experienced eye, though, it was pretty clear that Coulson was running on fumes himself. “Sit down. You’re helping me eat this.”

They both wound up on the bunk, River sitting cross-legged at the head, Coulson at the foot with his back resting against the bulkhead, the plate between them.

“How are you holding up?” Coulson asked.

“I’m holding,” River replied. If she was going to go to pieces, it would be when they’d gotten Clint back. _When,_ not _if._ There was work to do in the meantime. “What about you?”

“About the same.”

They lapsed into silence for a minute or two, concentrating on their food. River hadn’t realized how hungry she was until the first bite hit her stomach, and the same seemed true of Coulson. The last couple of days hadn’t been easy on either of them.

“Oh, I have something for you,” Coulson said out of the blue. He set down the remains of his sandwich, wiped his fingers on a napkin, and reached into an inner pocket of his suit jacket. He pulled out a small box which he handed to River. “I brought it with me. I thought you might want to have it on you.”

River opened the box and took out her engagement ring. White gold twisted into Celtic-style knots around a square, deep blue stone. She’d left it in Coulson’s safekeeping when she’d gone to Russia. She couldn’t have worn it on the mission, and it hadn’t seemed right to just leave it behind in her quarters.

She contemplated putting it on for a moment. She’d started getting into the habit of wearing it around SHEILD HQ. River and Clint had always been careful not to advertise their relationship too blatantly, but now that they were heading into legally-binding territory, they’d decided there was no point in keeping it a secret. SHIELD employees were an observant lot. Talon turning up after Christmas wearing a ring on her left hand had been as effective as taking out a billboard.

They could be heading into combat at any given moment, though. So, instead, River zipped the ring into a secure inner pocket of her tactical jacket. She wasn’t superstitious, but it felt good to have it close, like a talisman of sorts.

“Thank you.” 

Coulson just nodded in response. River reached for her mug of tea.

“I made the call,” she said. “To the Doctor,” River added unnecessarily. “I called him right before I left Calcutta.”

She wasn’t sure how Coulson would take the news, but her S.O. just looked relieved.

“What did he say?” Coulson asked.

“He said that he would come.”

Actually what the Doctor had said was, _“Why didn’t you call us right away? No, never mind. Doesn’t matter. We’re coming. Just hold tight, River, all right? We’re on our way.”_

Of course, _on our way_ was rather subjective when one was dealing with a time traveler. River had been keeping her ears attuned for the sound of the TARDIS from the second the call had ended.

“I don’t suppose he said when he was coming?” Coulson asked, apparently reading her mind.

River shook her head. “You know the Doctor. For a Time Lord he’s not exactly punctual. But he’s coming. He said that he was going to make a stop on Asgard first, though.”

“Asgard?” Coulson raised his eyebrows in surprise. “For what?”

“Reinforcements.”

*****

_Asgard_  
 _The Royal Palace_

“Too slow again, old friend,” Thor laughed, blocking Volstagg’s sword thrust.

Volstagg took a step back, grinning good naturedly and wiping his forehead on the back of his arm. They’d been sparring for the better part of an hour and the day had grown warm. 

“I’ll leave the speed and dancing about to Fandral,” Volstagg said.

In the next training ring over, Thor saw Fandral interrupt his match with Sif just long enough to flip his sword in a sarcastic salute at Volstagg. That second was all Sif needed to neatly disarm him. Thor could hear Fandral’s indignant protests.

“For my part,” Volstagg added, hefting his blunt practice sword, “I prefer a good _swing.”_

Volstagg’s sword came down in an arc aimed at Thor’s head. Thor bit back a slight groan as he blocked it. Volstagg might not be the fastest, true, but few could match the man when it came to sheer brute strength. Thor could feel the vibration of the impact all the way up his arms and into his back teeth. He was just about to counter attack when a strange wind swept through the training courtyard, carrying on it a pulsing, metallic noise. 

Thor knew that sound. The TARDIS was impossible to mistake for anything else.

All sparring in the training courtyard ceased as the small blue box phased into existence. Thor dropped his sword and jogged over to meet the Doctor and his companions as they stepped out of the ship. 

“Doctor!” Thor held out his hand to the Time Lord with a wide smile and nodded a greeting at the two Midgardians. “Rory. Amy. It is truly a pleasure to see you all again.”

“And you, my friend,” the Doctor replied, clasping Thor’s hand. But though he smiled, the Doctor’s countenance looked troubled. “I’m afraid this isn’t a social call, though. We need you to come with us.”

“Come with you?” Thor frowned. “Where?”

Not that he would refuse, regardless of what the answer was. A request from the last living Time Lord was on par with a royal decree.

“Earth,” the Doctor said. “River Song contacted me. There’s trouble there. She’s asked for my help, and we’re going to need yours, too.”

There was a strange sort of look in the Doctor’s eyes. To Thor it seemed at once serious and. . .hopeful? 

“Thor, Loki is alive.”

*****

_Military Outpost November_

“Fascinating.”

Loki was holding one of Clint’s hearing aids, examining the tiny device with great interest. Clint stood at parade rest, waiting patiently.

“Fury allows a crippled warrior to hold such a high rank among his people,” Loki said. He regarded Clint with calculating smile before handing the hearing aid back. “Tell me, is that because your other skills are so impressive, or is it out of sentiment?”

“I think it’s some of both,” Clint said, reinserting the hearing aid. 

He _was_ skilled, that was indisputable. Clint could do things that no other operative in SHIELD was capable of, but losing his hearing should have sidelined him permanently. Instead, SHIELD had pushed a lot of resources into developing the hearing aids that had allowed him to stay in the field. Clint knew that Coulson had been the one on the ground, pushing R &D to keep working the problem, but he also knew that Coulson had had Fury’s blessing to keep cracking the whip. 

They’d never discussed it, and Clint had never really thought too hard about it, but yeah. Fury was probably a little sentimental.

“Good. Sentiment means weakness,” Loki said. He settled back comfortably in his chair. “Tell me more of this team you say he’ll be assembling.”

They’d had several conversations now about the Avengers. Loki wanted to know as much as possible about the opposition. It was, Clint acknowledged, good strategy. Each talk had pulled more details from Clint’s memory, everything he knew about Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, and Steve Rogers.

“Fury’s Warriors Three,” Loki said, sounding amused. 

“There could be others,” Clint replied. Loki raised an eyebrow, indicating that he should go on. “Your brother, Thor, is in Fury’s files.”

“Yes. He would be.” Loki’s voice had gone fairly sour to Clint’s ears. “Anyone else?”

“The Doctor.”

For half a second, Clint was sure he saw a flash of apprehension in Loki’s eyes.

“Doctor who?” he asked calmly.

“The Time Lord from Gallifrey,” Clint said. “He told us that he knew you when you were young.”

“Did he now?” Loki said. He sat forward, eyeing Clint with new and intense curiosity. “You’ve met the Doctor yourself, then?”

“We travel with him sometimes,” Clint replied. “River and Phil and I.”

He’d already told Loki about River and Phil. He’d wanted to know who Clint was closest to at SHIELD. 

“Indeed?” Loki looked as if he was assessing Clint all over again. “You’ve been a companion to the Doctor? Why? The Doctor is particular about who he travels with. Why you? What makes you so special?”

Clint shook his head. “Not me. It’s River he’s interested in.”

“Your wife-to-be.” Loki smiled. “Tell me then, Barton. What is the Doctor’s interest in River Song?”

*****

_SHIELD Helicarrier_

People kept bringing River tea. 

She’d expected it from Coulson, of course. Then Dr. Levine had handed her a cup when River had gone down for her Medical check-in. Agent Angela Moretti, one of the data analysts from SHIELD HQ, had swung by to say hello and brought her yet another cup. Sitwell had brought her a cup while she was taking a turn monitoring a video feed for some sign of Clint or Loki. 

Even Hill got into the act.

River was standing on the upper level of the bridge when Hill stepped up beside her and wordlessly held out a paper cup of steaming brown liquid. At River’s quizzical look, Hill just raised her eyebrows. “It’s the crappy kind, but it’s all they have in the mess,” she said.

“Thanks,” River said, taking the cup.

People were trying to be nice. River got that. And they were trying to be nice in a way that was subtle, without just coming out and saying _Hey, we’re really sorry that your partner-slash-fiancé got taken and turned by a psychotic alien god and may not come home alive._

Generally speaking, River hated being coddled, but she could handle this level of sympathy.

“How’s the Banner situation?” Hill asked.

“I looked in about half an hour ago. He’s working,” River replied. “Focused and stable as far as I can tell.”

River hadn’t interrupted him. Banner had looked more at ease working alone in the lab than she’d yet seen him. She hadn’t wanted to break either his concentration or his calm.

“Let’s hope that trend continues,” Hill say dryly. “The last thing we need is for that man to become _unstable.”_

River nodded. She knew that Hill had reservations about the Avengers Initiative, and in the case of Banner, River was inclined to agree. Banner himself might be fine, but bringing the Hulk on board was a big risk. Unfortunately, there was no separating the two.

As for the other two members of the Avengers Initiative, there was no way to know yet how effective they’d be. Stark hadn’t even shown up yet. Rogers was on board, but, super-soldier though he might be, the man hadn’t seen active combat in a while. 

The Captain was standing on the other side of the bridge talking to Coulson. In spite of the current circumstances, River had to smother a smile. Coulson was trying so hard to act cool in the presence of his childhood hero. He was even (mostly) succeeding.

When Fury called Rogers away for a moment, River wandered over to stand with Coulson.

“It’s kind of cute, seeing you caught up in the throes of hero worship,” she said, using the rim of her cup to hide her smirk.

Coulson glared sideways at her. “Shut up.”

“I might have spilled something to Rogers about your vintage trading cards. Just FYI.”

“You know, Song, this Helicarrier has a deck. And I’m not above making you run laps on it.”

River saw a couple of the techs look at them oddly, no doubt wondering how they could banter at a time like this. Clearly they hadn’t spent much time around field agents or operatives yet. Every high-risk operative had ways of dealing with stress. This was one of the ways that River, Clint, and Coulson dealt. They goaded and teased and behaved irreverently. They whistled past graveyards and generally took the piss out of each other. 

It worked for them.

“Have you heard anything yet?” Coulson asked, his voice shifting to a slightly more serious tone.

There was no need for River to ask what he was referring to. “Not yet.”

The Doctor hadn’t turned up and he hadn’t called to check in, but River held tight to the surety that he would. He had said he would come. Three years of running with the Time Lord had had taught River a lot about how he worked, more than she had learned in decades of training to hunt him down and kill him. 

The Doctor held his friends dearer than anything else in the Universe. River, Clint, and Coulson were his friends. He would come.

There was a sudden commotion on the other side of the bridge.

“Hey. Hey!” Agent Sitwell turned around in his chair, casting his gaze about for Fury. “We’ve got something.”

The surveillance feed running through Sitwell’s workstation showed a man walking down a busy city sidewalk. He was dressed in regular, if formal, street clothes, but he was clearly the same man from the security footage take from the Tesseract facility.

“Sixty-seven percent match,” Sitwell said. “Wait. . .cross-match. Seventy-nine percent.”

“Location?” Coulson asked.

“Stuttgart, Germany,” Sitwell said. “28 Konigstrasse. He’s not exactly hiding.”

Sitwell was right. As River watched, it even looked as if Loki glanced directly at the camera for a moment.

“Which could mean that he wants us to see him,” Fury said. “So, we go in with the big guns. Cap, you’re up. Agent Song, I want you along as well. Go get him.”

*****

_Stuttgart, Germany_

 _He’s not exactly hiding._ That was an understatement if Steve had ever heard one. Loki hadn’t just let his face be seen. When SHIELD arrived on the scene in Stuttgart, the man was holding court to a captive audience in the middle of a street filled with rubble, flaming cars, and hysterical people.

Steve had never had much tolerance for megalomania. He took more than a little pleasure in cutting off Loki’s grandiose speech. He also took more than a little pleasure in pummeling the Asgardian. Steve had never considered himself a violent man, but after months of getting “acclimated” to the twenty-first century, it felt good to wade into a simple knock-down, drag-out fight again.

He was actually a little annoyed when Tony Stark arrived and effectively broke it up. Still, they had Loki subdued and in custody, which was what they wanted.

_“Let the local authorities deal with the mess on the ground,”_ Fury directed over the comm. _“I want Loki in a holding cell ASAP.”_

“Understood, sir,” Steve said, tightening a set of shackles around Loki’s wrists. He was waiting for some sort of resistance, but Loki was just eyeing him and Stark like it would compromise his dignity to struggle.

_“And Stark, nice of you to join us,”_ Fury added.

“After you sent me such a nice engraved invitation, Nick? How could I resist?” Stark had retracted the helmet of his suit and was giving Loki the full benefit of an arrogant smirk. “Fortunately I got here in time to bail Cap out.”

Steve glanced sharply over at Stark. Maybe that smirk wasn’t just aimed at Loki.

Last fall, when Steve had returned to the land of the living, the first thing he’d wanted to know was what had become of his friends: Peggy, Howard, Col. Phillips, the Howling Commandoes. He’d been told that, while Howard Stark was dead, he had a son who was every bit as brilliant and innovative. This was the first time Steve had met Tony Stark in person. Thus far his impression of the man was. . .

Well, he was no Howard, that was for sure.

“Let’s get him loaded up,” Steve said shortly, clamping one hand around Loki’s arm and steering him toward their ride. Stark followed along on Loki’s right.

“Are we sure he’s here alone?” Agent Song asked, joining them as they marched Loki toward the quinjet. “There’s no one with him?”

“We’re sure,” Steve said.

“Relax, Agent Song,” Stark added. “What is it that you say? The situation’s secure?”

Steve would have assumed that that was good news, but Agent Song’s expression didn’t crack in the slightest. In fact, he thought he saw it harden. 

Something caused Steve to glance over at Loki and he didn’t like what he saw. Loki’s attention had focused on Agent Song. His eyes were lit up with the sort of unpleasant glee that reminded Steve of certain neighborhood bullies back in Brooklyn when they’d get him cornered.

“So, you’re River Song,” the Asgardian said. “I’ve heard a great deal about you.”

Song just glared at Loki and quickened her pace, moving ahead of the others.

“Get him secured,” she said called back to Steve and Stark. “Fury wants us back at base.”

“Yeah, let’s go, Elvis,” Stark said, giving Loki a push. “His Directorness wants a word.”

Together they marched their worryingly compliant prisoner onto the jet.

*****

_The TARDIS_  
 _Somewhere over Europe_

The TARDIS fell out of the Vortex and into Earth night.

“We’re here,” the Doctor said.

And not a moment too soon. It had been a short trip, but Thor had been pacing restlessly around the control room the entire time, the personification of fraught tension. The Asgardian prince had elected to come alone to retrieve Loki, in spite of his friends and even the king and queen urging him to take more men.

“Loki is my brother. He’s my responsibility,” Thor had said in a tone that did not invite argument. “I’ll be the one to deal with him.”

The Doctor felt that this course of action was extremely wise. He was holding onto the hope that they could bring Loki back peaceably, and he knew Thor was as well. That was a job for a brother, not an army.

_“Where_ are we, exactly?” Rory asked, coming to stand by the Doctor as he pulled down a view screen. “Do we even know where to find River?”

“The TARDIS always seems to have a general idea,” the Doctor said, studying his readouts. “So, I’m sure she’s close. We’ve come out over Europe, and. . .there,” he said.

He pointed to a spot on the view screen as Amy and Thor moved in behind him to see. The point expanded to show a small, sleek black jet flying through the darkness. It was only a few thousand feet away. The Doctor would lay odds that River was aboard.

“What’s that?” Amy asked, pointing over the Doctor’s shoulder to a flashing blue button on the screen.

The Doctor flicked it. “There’s an Asgardian life form on board the jet,” he said. That was unexpected. “SHIELD must have already caught up with—Thor, what are you doing?”

Thor thundered down the stairs and crossed the main floor of the control room in a few long strides. He was beginning to swing his hammer in a circle.

“Settling this,” Thor called back to the Doctor. He threw open the door of the TARDIS and flew out into the night.

*****

A storm was brewing. River was trying very hard not to take that a sign of some sort.

Agent Keyser, who was piloting the jet, tapped one of the controls with a frown on his face.

“How are we doing?” River asked.

“We’re fine,” he said. “We’re just getting a little static off of the storm. Nothing to worry about.”

River nodded and went back to shamelessly eavesdropping on Rogers and Stark. Not that they were saying anything particularly interesting. The two men were verbally circling each other at the moment. The words _roosters_ and _hen houses_ came to mind.

River wondered if it would have occurred to Fury that his “group of extraordinary people” might have a pecking order to hammer out.

There was an especially bright flash of lightning, accompanied by a burst of static over the comms. But the interference was abruptly cut off, replaced by a familiar voice.

_“River? River are you there?”_

“Who the fuck is that?” Keyser asked, but River wasn’t paying attention. She sat straight up in her seat, pressing her comm unit to her ear.

“Doctor?”

Even as she replied, a small spinning object flew past the jet off to their right. It passed close enough for River to see the light on the TARDIS’s roof. Keyser let loose a string of curses and quickly steered the jet to the left sending Stark and Rogers stumbling in the back.

“What’s going on?” Rogers said.

River ignored him, her attention focused on the voice coming over the comm.

_“I don’t have time to explain,”_ the Doctor said, _“but, River, you’re about to have incoming.”_

“Incoming? Incoming what?” she asked.

A half-second later the entire jet shook as something heavy landed on the roof.

*****

_SHIELD Helicarrier_

“Aerie to Talon. Come in. Talon, do you copy?”

It was costing Coulson some effort to keep his voice even. They’d abruptly lost contact with Quinjet 343 and the last transmission had been garbled and involved some profanity from Agent Keyser, the pilot. 

That had been eight minutes ago and counting.

“Talon, this is Aerie. Report.”

Coulson was trying not to assume the worst, that Loki had somehow managed to bring the jet down. They had been heading into a storm. River had relayed that shortly before the comms had gone down. It could be just a weather-related glitch.

Eleven minutes and counting.

It didn’t help Coulson’s tension level that Hill was standing at his shoulder, arms crossed, waiting to hear a response as well. At one point Coulson heard her talking quietly into her own comm, ordering a second jet to be prepped for takeoff and a rescue helicopter to be on standby, just in case.

Fourteen minutes and counting.

“Talon, please respond.”

The comm suddenly crackled back to life.

_“Aerie, this is Talon. I copy.”_

Coulson sagged a bit with relief at the sound of River’s voice. She sounded irritated, but unhurt.

“Sit rep,” he said. 

_“Everything’s fine,”_ River said. _“We had to put down in the bloody Pyrenees. We’re about to get back underway now.”_

Coulson was pretty sure he heard Stark’s voice in the background. “What happened?”

_“I’ll give you the full debriefing when we get back ,”_ River replied. Coulson knew that was shorthand for ‘too complicated to get into over comms.’ _“You should inform Fury that we’re bringing company back with us.”_

The hopeful note in River’s voice was clear as a bell.

“He came,” Coulson said.

“He came,” River replied. “And he’s brought Thor with him.”


	3. Chapter 3

_SHIELD Helicarrier_   
_Hanger Level_

When Rory stepped out of the TARDIS, for a split second his mind flashed back to a long-gone Roman legion. 

The Doctor had parked the TARDIS beside River’s jet in the hanger of the Helicarrier. Everywhere Rory looked, there were people in uniform moving with controlled force and purpose and he imagined that it was probably much the same on the rest of the ship. It suddenly hit home to Rory that there was more at stake here than just helping out a friend.

_Si vis pacem, para bellum,_ he thought, watching a dozen agents in tactical gear escort Loki off of the SHIELD jet. _If you want peace, prepare for war._

“This doesn’t look good, does it?” Amy said, glancing around. 

Rory nodded in agreement. The Doctor was silent, frowning as he watched Loki being led away.

River came over to join them. “There will be a briefing in twenty minutes,” she said to the Doctor. “As soon as everyone has a chance to get squared away.”

It looked like proper introductions were going to wait until then. Rory saw Thor and Captain America being led off by a dark-haired woman (Agent Hill, he was pretty sure). Tony Stark was standing a short distance away, talking to Coulson. Rory watched Coulson raise a hand briefly in a _give me just a moment gesture,_ then quickly walked over to join the group in front of the TARDIS. Stark stared after him, looking like he was highly tempted to follow and see what exactly the blue box and its occupants were about, but he was distracted by another agent.

“Guys,” Coulson said to the Doctor, Amy, and Rory, “thanks for coming.”

“Of course we came,” Amy said. “We have to get our boy back, don’t we?”

“Yes, and apologies for causing a brief detour,” the Doctor said. “Thor’s fairly eager to get his brother sorted out.”

“Him and everyone else,” Coulson said dryly. He looked at River. “I need to escort Stark down to the labs. Take them over to Security and get them officially checked in. Badges, comm units, whatever they need. It’s best if we keep this by-the-book. Fury’s pissed enough over this.”

“He is?” Rory asked.

“I violated orders by calling you all in,” River said. “Don’t worry about it. Let’s just get you guys on the crew roster.”

Coulson was already heading back to Stark. “Twenty minutes,” he called over his shoulder. “We’re meeting on the bridge.”

*****

Coulson had to duck and deflect a lot of questions from Stark about the new players while he got the man settled into his lab. Leave it to the Doctor to make an entrance that even Iron Man sat up and took notice of.

“Seriously, what’s the story there?” Stark asked. “Those three weren’t in Fury’s little briefing packet. And what’s with the flying blue phone booth?”

“We’ll cover it at the briefing, Mr. Stark,” Coulson replied (over and over).

In all honesty, Coulson had no clue how to best introduce their new allies other than to simply play it by ear. The Doctor, Amy, and Rory, escorted by River, were the last to arrive on the bridge for the briefing. The members of the Avengers Initiative eyed them curiously as they stepped up to the table. 

Fury, standing just off of his command station, was glowering.

It turned out that Coulson didn’t have to worry about how to introduce the Doctor to the group. The Time Lord was more than capable of taking care of that himself.

“Tony Stark! Iron Man himself.” The Doctor enthusiastically shook Stark’s hand. “Big fan. Really big fan. The things you can do with integrated software. Sheer genius.”

Stark took this with a half-shrug and an _okay, I guess you can stay_ smile. The Doctor moved on to Rogers, who politely rose to shake his hand.

“And Captain Rogers! I caught your act in Buffalo. 1943. Marvelous. You might remember me? You signed my fez. No? Well, it was a packed house.”

Banner had his hand seized somewhat unwillingly. “And you!” the Doctor said. “I have no idea who you are, but I’m sure you’re absolutely brilliant, too.”

Coulson saw Rory facepalm while Amy tried not to laugh. Banner just looked like he wished he could teleport someplace more hospitable. Like the moon.

“I’m sorry,” Tony said. “You’re Doctor. . .who?”

“Just the Doctor,” the Doctor said. “And these are my companions. This is Amelia Pond. And this is her husband, Rory Williams. We’re friends of River and Phil and Clint. We’re here to help.”

“And how exactly are you planning to do that, Doctor?” Fury asked. “We already have Dr. Banner here to track the radiation from the Tesseract.”

“Ah, you’re a physicist!” the Doctor said, turning back to Banner for a moment. “Lovely. So, you’ll scan for Gamma radiation, I’ll scan for Time particles, and with any luck we’ll have Agent Barton home in time for tea tomorrow.”

“Time particles?” Agent Hill asked. 

“Yes. Time particles,” the Doctor said. “Long story short, I travel in Time. I travel with companions, like Amy and Rory, here. And off and on for the last few years, I’ve also traveled with Agent Coulson, Agent Song, and Agent Barton, who I was distressed to learned has been kidnapped.

“Now, every person who has traveled in Time gives off Time particles. It’s a very distinct signature, which I can scan for. I’ll have to build an apparatus, but then I can start looking for Clint. Which should also help lead us to the Tesseract. Questions?”

The Doctor was met with silence, though Coulson was pretty sure he heard an irritated sigh come from Fury’s vicinity.

“Oh, and in the interest of full disclosure, I am an alien,” the Doctor added. “Like Thor, here. Though obviously,” the Doctor looked over at Thor and then down at his own thin, tweed-clad arms, “we aren’t the same species.”

“That’s enough disclosure, Doctor. Agent Song,” Fury said, jerking his head toward a corner of the bridge, “get over here.”

*****

“What the hell were you thinking?” Fury asked. “Was this situation not volatile enough for you, Song? You had to go and throw gasoline on the fire?”

River had seen plenty of brave men and women contemplate shitting themselves under the look Fury was giving her now. Even Coulson and Hill, who had migrated over to the corner with them, were keeping their mouths shut. Under other circumstances, River might have felt intimidated herself.

“I was thinking that you brought in your consultants, so I brought in mine. Sir.”

“And who exactly gave you authorization to involve the Doctor?” Fury glared at Coulson.

“No one,” River said firmly. “I made the call. Sir, I know that you don’t want us to be dependent on the Doctor to solve our problems, but even you have to admit that this is an exceptional situation. We’re talking about the fate of the world.” 

And Clint’s life. It was all one and the same to River.

“Sir, she’s right,” Coulson said. “I do understand the concerns, but the Doctor can give us insight. He knows Loki, or at least he did.”

“Agent Coulson, if that’s meant to be reassuring, I have news for you. It’s not.”

“Hello? Excuse me.” 

The Doctor appeared between River and Coulson, briefly wrapping an arm around each of them.

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to interrupt. Hello, Agent Hill. Lovely to see you again,” the Doctor said. “I couldn’t help but overhear. Nick, the last thing I want to do is tread on your toes, and as the Director of SHIELD, I will fully abide by your decision when it comes to my involvement here.”

Fury raised an eyebrow. “Will you, now?”

“Yes,” The Doctor said. “You see, I came here to help my friends and help them I shall. Now, I can do that here, on your turf, under your nose where you can keep a very close eye on me, or I can go do it elsewhere.” The Doctor smiled broadly. “As I said, it’s entirely your decision.”

River watched Fury swell up dangerously, but the Director of SHIELD didn’t lose his temper unless there was a tactical advantage in it.

“Agent Song,” he said, “find the Doctor a place to work.”

*****

“Oh, yes. This will do nicely,” the Doctor said.

Amy watched as the Doctor inspected the SHIELD lab that River had escorted them to. He was busy checking cabinets and poking at equipment and generally looking quite pleased with the set up. Amy was keeping out of the way and doing her best not to fidget with her ear. The comm units were no doubt very handy, but it felt odd to have a little piece of machinery stuck down there.

She briefly wondered how long it had taken Clint to get used to that, having to wear hearing aids in his ears most of the time. But that thought brought with it a little wave of worry that she could do absolutely nothing about, so Amy pushed it to the side for the moment.

“Weird being here all officially, isn’t it?” she said to Rory.

“A bit,” Rory agreed, idly inspecting his lanyard badge. “I’d kind of gotten used to sneaking around whenever we were at SHIELD.”

The Doctor, having finished poking through all available corners and storage spaces, joined them.

“Well, there’s enough here to be getting on with,” he said. “I’ll need to move the TARDIS down here. There are a lot of bits and bobs I’ll need from her to build the scanner. Besides,” he added, “I didn’t like the way that Stark fellow was eyeing her. He’d best not be getting any ideas. And where did River go?” 

“She said she had to go get something and she’d be back in a minute,” Rory said. 

As if on cue, the automatic doors whisked open and River entered accompanied by a man in a sweater vest. Amy briefly sized him up: young, Asian, and more than a little wide-eyed. Amy had a feeling this was his first _we all might die_ sort of crisis.

Pretty much the exact opposite of River. Amy didn’t think she’d ever seen her friend look so. . .so _SHIELDy_ before.

“All right, guys,” River said. “Just a few quick ground rules.”

She sounded pretty SHIELDy, too.

“You’re here in an official capacity, so feel free to go wherever you need or want to go, provided it’s not a restricted area,” River said. “You won’t be able to mistake those. They’re guarded and locked down. It’s really not a good idea to push Fury’s patience right now, so if you absolutely need to get into a restricted section, call me first.”

“She means you,” Amy said to the Doctor. The Time Lord just snorted.

“I’m needed elsewhere right now, so I can’t hang out in the lab,” River added. “I’ll check in as often as I can. In the meantime, Doctor, I’m assigning you an assistant.”

She waved the young man forward.

“This is Agent Stan Li. He’ll help you with anything you need. Equipment, directions to the mess hall, an extra pair of hands, whatever. Just ask him.”

“Stan. Lovely to meet you,” the Doctor said, shaking his hand.

“Yes, sir. I mean, same to you. Doctor. Sir.” 

Agent Li looked nervous. Amy wondered what on earth River had told him.

“I’ll leave you all to it, then,” River said. “I need to get back to the bridge. Call if you need me.”

She left them alone in the lab, already on comms with someone before she’d even made it out of the doors.

“All right, then,” the Doctor said, looking around at Amy, Rory, and Stan. “Time to get to work.”

*****

The key to being productive was knowing when to take a break. After a few solid hours of running calculations, Tony Stark definitely needed a break.

“I’m going to go stretch my legs for a few minutes,” he said to Banner. “I may swing by the mess hall. Do you want anything? Midnight snack?”

Literally. Past midnight, actually.

Banner just shook his head and waved him off, not taking his eyes off of his computer screen. Tony was only halfway sure that he’d heard the question. Still, far be it from him to break a man’s concentration when he was clearly in the zone. Tony set off on his own.

He slowed his pace as he reached Lab 5. Agent Song had set her pal up in here. Doctor No-Name, the alien. (Three aliens in one day, that had to be some kind of record.) Agent Song hadn’t been much more forthcoming than that, and Fury was, well, Fury. Granted, there wasn’t a whole lot of time for long stories right now, but Tony had been keeping his ears open. A few nuggets of information had drifted his way, words like _sonic screwdriver_ and _TARDIS_ and _Time Lord._

Tony wasn’t sure what a Time Lord was supposed to be, but it sounded pretty badass.

“The hell?” he muttered as he watched the Doctor and his two sidekicks through the lab windows.

The Doctor had talked about building an apparatus to scan for “Time particles,” but the thing taking shape in the lab looked like it belonged in one of the more batshit insane modern art exhibitions Tony had attended. The two sidekicks were wrapping wire over and around the top of the thing, like they were stringing Christmas lights. The Doctor was lying half-underneath it, working on something on the underside and talking at a SHIELD agent who was frantically scribbling notes onto a legal pad. 

After a few seconds, the agent nodded and started making his way down the length of the lab to the door. Tony sauntered down the hall, matching pace with the kid, meeting him at the automatic door as it slid open. The kid looked distracted and just nodded in Tony’s direction as he left the lab. Tony answered with a half-assed salute and slipped inside just before the doors slid closed again.

His entrance seemed to go unnoticed by the three working at the other end of the lab. That was fine. The thing Tony wanted to check out was right here near the doors. 

A space ship that disguised itself as a wooden box. How cool was that?

The door of the TARDIS was cracked open. Tony quietly pushed it open a little wider and let out a low whistle at what he saw on the inside.

“Ah. I wouldn’t if I were you.”

Tony turned to see who he had just been busted by. It wasn’t the Doctor, it was the other man. Robert? Ronald? No, Rory, that was it. English guy with an Irish name, that should be easy to remember. 

Rory reached past him and pulled the door of the blue box closed again. “You don’t need to be poking around in there,” he said.

Tony was willing to bet that if JARVIS had a face, he wore that expression a lot. Maybe a little less nose, but the overall look? Yeah.

He folded his arms and leaned back against the box.

“So, what’s the story with you guys, really?” he asked.

Rory just shrugged. “No story,” he said. “It’s like the Doctor said. Phil, River, and Clint are friends of ours. When Clint got taken, River called us and asked us to come help.”

“Clint. That’s Agent Barton? Hawkeye?”

“Yeah.”

“He’s Agent Song’s partner, right? I take it that’s why she’s been in such a stellar mood,” Tony said. “She’s been even less charming than she was the last time I had to deal with her, and I didn’t think that was possible.”

Tony knew he had a bad habit of shooting his mouth off. (He knew because Pepper always kindly pointed it out when he did it.) Still, he didn’t think his remark was anything that egregious until Rory suddenly straightened up and loomed into his personal space.

And jeez, for being kind of a goofy-looking guy, he was suddenly pretty damn intimidating.

“For your information, they’re engaged,” Rory said, severely. “So, yeah, I think it’s safe to say she’s taking this a bit personally.”

“Oh.” _Nice. Shit, Tony. Way to put your foot in it._ “I’m sorry. I didn’t know that.”

He actually meant his apology, and not just because River Song, the scary assassin, apparently had some really over-protective friends. Tony thought he must have sounded sufficiently sincere, because Rory backed off.

“I’m sorry. There’s no reason you should have known.” Rory stuffed his hands in the pockets of his jacket, looking a little contrite. “Look, don’t tell River I told you, okay? They’re pretty private about stuff like that.”

“My lips are sealed.”

Tony knew how he’d be taking things if some crazy megalomaniac kidnapped Pepper. Given what he knew of Agent Song, Tony found himself feeling just a little bit sorry for the Asgardian locked up down in the hold.

*****

_Military Outpost November_

“Then once Loki is secured and we’re clear of the Helicarrier, we’ll rendezvous here.” Clint laid his finger on the large schematic spread on the table. “Are there any questions?”

Clint looked around at the assembled men: free-lancers, mercenaries, soldiers for hire. Half of them were on mid-level SHIELD watch lists. That was how Clint had known how and where to find them. SHIELD had no shortage of enemies. Those enemies had been all too eager to sign up with Loki.

There were no questions from the floor, so Clint went on. “It’s 0100 hours now. Dr. Selvig’s team will leave at 0200. The rest of us will depart at 0500. That will put us arriving at the Helicarrier during morning shift change.”

So far the Helicarrier, as per policy, was maintaining a stationary position. Should it move for any reason, they’d know; Loki’s staff was an easy beacon to monitor. Clint already had half a dozen contingencies mapped out in case the craft changed locations.

“Go over the schematics,” Clint ordered. “Make sure you know your routes. We’ll need to work quickly.”

The Helicarrier was a labyrinth. Fortunately, Clint remembered enough about the layout to be able to produce a map of the relevant areas of the vessel. Clint left the team to review the plan and went to check on Selvig.

Selvig was busy overseeing the packing in his lab. Clint noted with detachment that the scientist was looking a bit worse-for-wear; his clothing was rumpled, he was in need of a shave, and his eyes were red-rimmed and watery and bright with manic energy. He hadn’t stopped for rest since this whole thing had started. Of course, neither had Clint and he felt fine. Besides, Selvig was doing his job, and that was all that mattered. Clint moved on into the makeshift hanger.

Stealing a quinjet without anyone noticing had been tricky, but they’d pulled it off. It was a larger model, meant for carrying multiple strike teams, perfect for their purposes. They’d liberated a large cache of SHIELD gear as well, uniforms and tactical gear. Clint had determined that this was a key detail. Mercs in SHIELD gear would create confusion. Security would be forced to hesitate before they opened fire, and that would buy them time.

Clint watched their improvised ground crew readying the jet for the mission.

“Almost time to go home.”

*****

_SHIELD Helicarrier_

River was on her way to check in with the Doctor when she ran into Agent Li. She almost _literally_ ran into him. The young agent had his head bent over a list, muttering to himself as he walked. He jumped when River put a hand out to halt him.

“Agent Song! Sorry,” Li said, once he’d recovered himself.

“Report, Agent Li.”

“The Doctor’s still working on his apparatus,” Agent Li said. The face he made on the word _apparatus_ made River wonder exactly what sort madness the Doctor’s method was producing. “He’s sent me for more equipment. He wants thirty feet of copper cabling, a dozen rubber washers, a parachute, and a shopping cart. I have no idea what to do about that one. And he wants something called ‘Jammy Dodgers.’” Agent Li looked up from his list helplessly. “I don’t know what ‘Jammy Dodgers’ are.”

River forced a calm smile. “I’ll take care of the Jammy Dodgers,” she said. “Go down to tech storage and get one of those carts that they use to move equipment. That should be close enough.”

Li nodded and went trotting off. River made a quick detour through the mess hall before heading to Lab 5. 

The Doctor had certainly been working hard. The lab had been completely rearranged and the large scanning device he was working on took up one whole end of the room. A free-standing view screen had been brought in, showing a map of the world. Small lights were scattered over the map, seemingly hundreds of them. They were heavily concentrated in the British Isles, but they appeared at every corner of the globe. The Doctor himself was bent over a laptop, his nose a mere inch from the screen, his face bathed in bluish light. He looked up as River came in.

“Catch,” she said.

The Doctor handily caught the small package of Oreos she’d snagged from the mess. 

“They’re the closest thing to Jammy Dodgers we have on board,” River said.

“They’ll do. I was just feeling a bit peckish.” The Doctor opened the package and offered it to River. She shook her head.

“Where are Amy and Rory?” she asked. 

“Off wandering somewhere,” the Doctor replied. “I had to send them out. Those two are so saturated with Time Particles they were starting to throw off the scanner. It’s working much better now.” He waved a cookie at the view screen.

River moved over to look at the map.

“These are all the people you’ve traveled with?”

“Well, they’re people who’ve traveled in Time,” the Doctor said around a bite of Oreo. “I can’t claim to have a monopoly on that, but I’d say a good number have traveled with me. And I’m sure there will be more results once my scanner’s actually complete.”

The Doctor propped his feet up on the worktable and tapped a few keys on his laptop. 

“It’s been quite nice, really, revisiting some old friends,” he said. “Martha Jones and Mickey Smith. Jo Grant. Dorothy McShane. Sarah Jane Smith. You’d like Sarah Jane. Although, she’s an investigative journalist, so maybe introducing her to spies wouldn’t be the best plan.”

“I never knew there were so many,” River said. She felt her heart sink. How were they ever going to find Clint in _that?_

There was a crinkle of cellophane as the Doctor set aside his package of cookies. A moment later River found herself folded up into a hug. Her nose was pressed into brown tweed that smelled like an oddly comforting mixture of ozone and nutmeg and spent matches and pine needles and that fleeting odor of rain falling on dry ground. 

“We’ll find him, River. I promise.”

River nodded with a small smile of gratitude that the Doctor couldn’t see and reached around to pat his back. The Doctor turned her loose with a quick parting kiss on her forehead.

“Right then,” he said. “Back to work. If you see Agent Li, tell him to get a move on. We’ve lots to do yet.”


	4. Chapter 4

_SHIELD Helicarrier_

There. It was done.

The Doctor stood back and surveyed his handiwork. The scanner was finished. It was cycling now, locating every person on the face of the planet who was affected by Time particles. As River had observed on her last visit to the lab, there were a good number of people who were going to have to be ruled out. 

Now it was just a waiting game. Sooner or later, the scanner would catch Clint. The Doctor sat down at the worktable in front of the laptop. He had uploaded the Clint’s biometric file into the device to give the scanner something to match. The file was as good as a fingerprint—better in fact—for identifying one particular human among seven billion others. Then they would know where to find him.

The Doctor stretched out his arms and twisted his head from side to side, making a face as his joints popped and cracked. It was very late. He’d sent Agent Li off to get some rest half an hour ago.

“But, sir, Agent Song gave me very explicit instructions,” the droopy-eyed young agent had protested. “I’m supposed to be on hand if you need anything.”

“And you’ll still be on hand,” the Doctor had replied as he’d pushed Agent Li through the doors of the TARDIS. It had been a testament to how tired ol’ Stan had been that he’d barely balked at the sight of the large control room. The Doctor had pointed him to one of the upper platforms. “There’s a sofa right up there. It’s surprisingly comfortable. Go have a bit of a sleep. I’ll call you if I need you.”

The Doctor welcomed the solitude. People passed occasionally outside the lab, but for the most part all was quiet save for the hum of the Helicarrier’s engines.

Idly, the Doctor tapped a key on his laptop, switching to a new screen. Fury would no doubt take it amiss if he were to learn that the Doctor had hacked into the security feed in the detention center, but what Fury didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.

The Doctor regarded Loki, sitting calmly in his cell. Suddenly, the quiet and the solitude seemed more oppressive than calming.

The Doctor sprang up out of his chair and left the lab.

The detention center wasn’t hard to find. The Doctor thought he’d have to do some fast talking and perhaps flash his psychic paper around to gain access, but to his surprise he needed neither. The guard on duty waved him through.

“Director Fury has granted you full access, Doctor,” she told him. “You’ll be monitored for your safety, and we ask that you stay a minimum of ten feet away from the glass, but you can go in and speak to him. Just stay behind the yellow line.”

Apparently, Fury had a trusting bone in his body after all. Would wonders never cease?

Loki rose when the Doctor entered the chamber and was standing at the glass when he halted at the yellow line on the floor he had been told not to cross.

“Doctor. I was wondering if you’d pay me a visit,” Loki said. “Have you come to lecture me about the error of my ways?”

“I wouldn’t presume to waste your time or my own,” the Doctor replied.

He searched Loki’s face, trying to find some sign of the boy he’d once known in the man who stood before him now. That boy had liked tricks and games and mischief. He could be a bit of a handful, but he had never been mean or malicious. If that boy was still in there (and the Doctor, in his hearts, clung to the belief that he was) he was hidden very well.

Loki looked slightly intrigued. “Then to what do I owe the pleasure?” 

“I wanted to ask you to forgive me.”

Loki had weighed on the Doctor’s conscience ever since Puente Antiguo last year. It had been the first time the Doctor had seen Thor and Loki since they’d been children. He’d been a somewhat regular fixture in their lives once. He and Loki in particular had been close. But, well, the Doctor’s life was complicated. Things had come up. He hadn’t gotten back around to Asgard. He’d dropped out of their lives. He hadn’t meant to, but it had happened. And the Doctor _knew_ that sort of thing was damaging. Look at what it had done to Amy.

The Doctor had wanted to tell Loki then that he was sorry, but there’d been no chance. In the face of his failure to seize the throne of Asgard, Loki had taken his own life, or so they’d all thought.

Now he had a second chance, and even for the Doctor, those didn’t come along every day.

Loki was staring at him now, looking slightly stunned. The Doctor went on.

“I shouldn’t have stayed away so long. I should have come back, checked on things. If I’d known that--”

There was nothing quite so unpleasant as having your heart-felt apology cut off by laughter, especially when it came from the person whose forgiveness you were begging.

The Doctor went quiet and he could feel a blush start to spread up from his collar. Eventually, Loki tired of laughing, instead favoring the Doctor with a wide smile that was as amused as it was predatory.

“You know,” Loki said, “Father always said that you were arrogant, even for a Time Lord. You think this is all about _you,_ don’t you?”

The Doctor felt his blush intensify. He couldn’t quite say if it was more a product of embarrassment or anger.

“You think that you abandoned me and it somehow lead to my ruin?” Loki’s smile was bordering on nasty now. He folded his hands in front of him. “Well, allow me to set your mind at ease, Doctor. For a brief time in my life, you were a very amusing nursemaid. Nothing more. My work here has nothing to do with you.”

Coulson had said much the same thing to the Doctor after Puente Antiguo, albeit in a much kinder fashion. _I like you, Doctor, but sometimes you need to get over the idea that people’s lives revolve around what you did or didn’t do. You’re not responsible for what Loki turned into, and it’s not your fault that he’s dead. So stop kicking yourself._

“That’s where you’re wrong,” the Doctor said, straightening his shoulders slightly. “Your _work_ has a great deal to do with me.”

“Because you’ve declared yourself Midgard’s champion.”

“Because you’ve taken someone that I care about.”

“Ah, yes. Agent Barton. One of your new pets,” Loki said. “He’s proven to be quite useful, simply full of information. He had some particularly interesting stories to tell about Agent Song.” Loki smiled. “I’m sure it must be extremely irksome for you, not knowing precisely what she is. Would you like me to tell you? I’ll share if you wish.”

That gave the Doctor pause.

River was a mystery. That was why the Doctor had starting dropping in regularly and enticing her and Clint and Phil to come traveling in Time and Space. He’d wanted to figure her out. After three years (River time) he was no closer to knowing what she was, and somewhere along the way it had stopped mattering all that much.

Now Loki was dangling the answer in front of him. Assuming he wasn’t lying, assuming he wasn’t just playing with him, the Doctor could solve the mystery right here.

Loki relished having the upper hand, the Doctor could tell. But that wasn’t what made up the Doctor’s mind.

“Whatever River Song is, it’s for her to tell me, at a time of her choosing,” the Doctor said. “It’s not yours.”

The Doctor walked away from the cell and out of the detention center, nodding a brief thanks to the guard. In spite of his refusal to rise to Loki’s bait, the Doctor knew he’d just lost that round hands down.

*****

The Helicarrier might be big by SHIELD’s standards, but Amy was used to wandering the TARDIS. The Doctor’s ship was infinite, a dimension unto itself. It was usually pretty helpful about making sure Amy and Rory found their way around without going miles out of their way, but Amy had still once spent half a day walking through the winter wardrobes.

After the TARDIS, finding her way around the Helicarrier was about as hard as finding her way around sleepy little Leadworth. Six months ago, Amy and Rory had fulfilled a long-standing _when we’re grown up_ promise and made the move up to London. (The Doctor had given them a firm prod in that direction by presenting them with a pretty little terrace house there.) Now when Amy went back to Leadworth on visits, she was amazed that she had lived for so long in such a tiny place.

Amy strolled up a corridor, looking in at labs, labs, and more labs. She paused when she spotted a marginally familiar person in one of them, Dr. Banner, the physicist. _Dr. Jekyll_ might be a better name for him, Amy thought, if the stories about his other side where even remotely true.

He seemed to sense he was being watched and looked up from his work, frowning when he saw Amy at the window. Amy just smiled and lifted her hand in a wave. Hesitantly, like he thought she might actually be waving at someone behind him, he waved back.

Amy smiled in satisfaction and walked on.

She steered clear of the bridge. It wasn’t off-limits, but things were very serious and official up there. Amy didn’t fancy the idea of getting underfoot if she didn’t have to. Instead she turned down another corridor, one that led her to a quieter and darker part of the craft. The signage indicated that she was heading for cargo bays.

It didn’t look like anyone was down this way, but after a few moments, Amy started to hear a voice. A thin shiver ran down her spine. It was a voice out of a dream, except that Amy was never dreaming when she heard that voice.

_Brain activity is a little high, but well within parameters._

This time, it seemed to be coming from a blank bulkhead a few feet up the wall. Amy closed in on the voice quickly, wondering if the vision would come with the voice this time.

It did. As Amy approached the bulkhead, a thin, rectangular opening appeared, like someone slid a panel from the other side, and for just a few seconds, she saw a face. It was a woman, middle-aged, with curly hair, and one eye covered by a black patch. The mysterious woman regarded Amy briefly, then the panel slid back again.

“No, wait!” Amy said, but the woman was already gone. Amy rested her fingers against the bulkhead where there was absolutely no opening, no window, no sliding panel, no woman in the wall. 

Three times. Three times now, Amy had seen that window. The first time had been a few months ago. Amy remembered the day very clearly. She and Rory had still been getting settled into their new house in London. Rory’s dad, Brian, had come out to help. Amy had left them to fuss over light fittings while she’d slipped out. She’d told them she was going to go look at curtains. 

In reality, she’d had an appointment with an obstetrician. Amy had been sure, absolutely _sure,_ that she was pregnant. She’d been giddy at the prospect of going home and telling Rory that they needed to choose a room to be the nursery. But she’d been wrong. All the tests had come back negative. 

Then on her way out of the offices, in the back wall of the lift, Amy had seen that window and the one-eyed woman. Amy had chalked it up to tiredness from the move and upset over her appointment. But then she’d seen it again, on a stranded pirate ship being haunted by a siren. Now here. 

She hadn’t told the Doctor or even Rory about it. She thought that she probably should, but she kept holding back.

“I’m not crazy,” Amy said firmly to the blank wall.

She jumped and barely refrained from yelping when someone cleared his throat behind her.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you,” Captain Rogers said.

Amy glared, hand pressed over her heart. “Then you really shouldn’t sneak up on people.”

She almost expected him to apologize again. That was the sort of guy Captain America seemed to be at first glance; the choirboy type who would fall all over himself apologizing to a woman. Maybe he had been that guy once upon a time, but then he’d gone and become a soldier. The _Mr. Nice Guy_ was still there, but tempered by hard experience and responsibility.

Amy saw that in Rory from time to time.

“You’re Mrs. Williams, right?” he asked. “Or is it Mrs. Pond?”

“Just _Amy_ is fine.”

Captain Rogers nodded and looked at her a bit curiously. “Who were you talking to?”

“What? No. Talking?” _Smooth, Pond._ “Myself. I was talking to myself. You know,” Amy added, casting about for a distraction, “sneakiness and that outfit don’t really go together. It’s very. . .American.”

Not that Amy exactly hailed from the Land of Subtlety. Scotland had given the world the bagpipe, after all. But the great big star and the red-and-white cummerbund were a bit much.

“I’m not sneaking,” Captain Rogers said. And the way he said it made Amy think that, for all she’d been joking, that was _exactly_ what Rogers was doing down here. “I’m just taking a walk.”

Amy eyed him. “I get the distinct impression that you’re lying.”

Rogers opened his mouth and then just sighed. “I’m not.”

“Yeah, you are.” Amy folded her arms and leaned against the bulkhead. “So, what are you really doing?”

For a second Rogers looked irritated, but then it seemed like something occurred to him.

“You guys aren’t SHIELD, right?” he said. “You and your husband and the Doctor, you aren’t under Fury’s command?”

“Fury only wishes. Why?” Amy asked.

“I think Fury’s hiding something down here that he doesn’t want us to know about,” Rogers said. “I sure could use some help searching if you’re game.”

Amy considered. This was probably the sort of thing River was warning about when she told them to stay out of restricted areas. On the other hand, Fury’s golden boy was the one asking her to go trespassing. On the third hand, it sounded like he thought Fury was up to something, so that probably wouldn’t provide much immunity if she got caught. On the fourth hand, if Fury _was_ keeping some big secret, the Doctor would probably want to know about it.

“Sure, why not? I have some time to kill.”

*****

Coulson had ordered River to go get some sleep.

He’d used the tone that told River that he meant business, and that he wouldn’t appreciate any protest or insubordination. In truth, she hadn’t had the energy reserves for either. River had complied, going back to her quarters and lying down, fully clothed, on her bunk. She hadn’t expected to really sleep, but she could at least rest.

The next thing River knew, she was waking up with her face buried in her pillow. Her internal clock told her that it was exactly 0503 hours. Almost three hours had passed.

Behold the power of exhaustion.

River rolled over onto her back and stared at the ceiling for a minute or two before she pushed herself up and stepped into the tiny bathroom. She felt fifty percent more human for having slept, and a quick shower was good for another thirty percent or so. By the time River pulled on her uniform and braided and pinned up her hair, she felt good to go for another couple of days. 

More than that, she felt ready to stop waiting for something to break. Loki was down in holding. He had been there all night. No more screwing around.

It was time they had a little chat.

*****

Loki had been waiting for River Song.

Barton’s betrothed had been present at Loki’s capture in Germany and during the journey back to SHIELD’s flying fortress. The woman had seethed with carefully contained anger, but she hadn’t said a word to Loki during that time. She’d regarded him with cold disdain and then made a show of ignoring him. 

He’d known she wouldn’t keep that up forever. She was frightened and angry and spoiling for a confrontation. She wanted answers, and now she’d come to demand them.

She wasted no time in getting to the point.

“I want to know what you’ve done with Agent Barton.”

Loki sized up River Song from the other side of the heavy glass. A human who was part Time Lord. Who had ever heard of such a thing? Not the Doctor, that much was clear. It was neither here nor there, really, but it was an interesting curiosity. Loki couldn’t resist the temptation to poke it with a stick.

“I would say that I’ve given him a great purpose,” Loki said. “He will help me win this world.” 

“And after that?” she asked. “After you’ve taken Earth, and his purpose is complete? What happens to him then?”

 _Predictable,_ Loki thought. Pathetically so. He didn’t even try to hold back a chuckle.

“Amazing,” he said. “Your whole world hangs in the balance, and you concern yourself with the fate of one man.”

“There are other worlds,” River said crossing her arms. “It’s a very big universe out there. But there’s only one of him, and I want him back.”

“All for the sake of love.” 

Loki wondered if she’d try to make good on her assertion. She was one of the Doctor’s new companions. He was here at her behest. Would she really ask the Time Lord to whisk her and Barton off of this planet, abandoning it for a life of peace together somewhere else?

He took another step toward the glass, looking down at the woman on the other side. 

“Or is it cowardice that motivates you? You can’t bear the thought of being left alone in this world. You fear solitude and isolation, having nothing but your secrets left to hold close. Having to carry them all by yourself again.” Loki smiled as he watched his words hit home. “Barton told me all about you. Everything.”

Including the fact that it had only been the sharing of those secrets with Barton and their friend, Phil Coulson, that had kept them from crushing her.

“You need not worry,” Loki said. “You won’t have to live without him. I won’t touch Barton. Not until I make him kill you. Slowly, intimately, in every way he knows you fear. Then I’ll let him wake just long enough to see his good work, and when he screams I’ll split his skull.”

It was gratifying to watch the horror begin to bleed through the woman’s stoic mask. She hastily backpedaled away from the glass, turning away from him, hiding her face.

“You’re a monster.”

He heard the threatening tears in her voice. Apparently River Song was not made of such hardy stuff after all.

“No. The monsters are already here,” Loki said. 

Loki had to commend Nick Fury on that point. The man was ruthless enough to realize that to have a hope of fighting monstrous things, he needed soldiers who were monsters themselves. Or how had Barton put it? _Viable threats._ If Loki’s guess was right—and his guesses usually were—at least two of them, the scientists, had passed this night in close proximity to the staff that that Thanos had given him. 

That staff did interesting things to human minds.

Loki’s feeling of victory was short-lived. Suddenly, Agent Song’s shoulders straightened and her head came up. She turned to face Loki again and the horror and fear were completely gone. She looked. . .intrigued. Calculating. She looked like her mind was fitting together a puzzle at lightning speed.

She looked like a Time Lord.

“Banner,” she said. “That’s your play.”

Loki felt his control over this conversation slip right through his fingers.

River had already turned her back on him again, heading for the exit, talking to someone on her comm. Halfway there, she turned briefly back, caught Loki’s eye, and smiled.

“Thank you for your cooperation.”

*****

Dawn was breaking through the windows of the Helicarrier’s bridge. Coulson greeted the sight with a yawn, a sour look, and a large swallow of coffee. He was not immune to the charms of a beautiful sunrise, but this was not that morning. For one thing, he had to be working off of more than three hours of sleep. For another, he preferred peaceful sunrises.

“Son of an ever-loving _bitch!”_

That wasn’t exactly birdsong. 

Hill’s tone alone had Coulson hurrying over to the control terminal. He saw Fury, who had just arrived on the bridge, head in that direction as well. Hill leaned over the shoulder of a sweating tech who was frantically keying commands into his computer. A large, red _SECURITY BREACHED_ message flashed on the screen.

“Lock it down,” Hill said.

“I’m trying, ma’am, but it keeps rewriting itself.”

“Then get a fix on the source.” Hill moved over slightly as Coulson and Fury joined her at the console.

“Is this Loki?” Coulson asked.

“Is it the Doctor?” Fury asked.

“I think. . .I’ve got it.” The tech looked around at his high-ranking audience. “Sir, it’s Stark.”

Fury made a low, very unpleasant noise. “Coulson. Hill. Keep an eye on things up here.”

Clearly this day wasn’t going to get any quieter.

*****

Fury himself met River at the head of the laboratory corridor.

“I think Loki’s going to try to set off the Hulk,” River said without preamble.

“Stark hacked our computer systems and knows about Phase 2,” Fury countered.

“Shit.”

“Agreed,” Fury said. “Security’s on standby. Let’s go see what kind of situation we’re dealing with down there.”

They could hear raised voices before they even reached the door. That did not, in River’s opinion, bode especially well. Nor did the sight that greeted her and Fury when they entered the lab where Stark and Banner had set up shop. The room was full of people who were all talking over each other at very high volume: Stark, Banner, Thor, Rogers, and Amy. 

Fury’s arrival did nothing to calm the situation down, as he seemed to be the one that everyone was pissed off at. The large gun on the worktable seemed to be the epicenter of the ill will. River recognized one of the new Phase 2 prototypes from the New Mexico facility.

“Amy and I found an entire room full of these down in the cargo hold,” Rogers said, fairly bristling with righteous indignation. “SHIELD’s been using the Tesseract to make weapons.”

River glared at Amy. Amy cringed and mouthed _Sorry_ behind Rogers’ back. Everyone else was too caught up to notice.

“Phase 2 was our insurance policy,” Fury said. “Last year a little Asgardian family feud leveled a town right here on Earth. We needed to be ready in the event of an actual offensive action.”

“So your answer to that was to start building weapons of mass destruction?” Banner asked.

“It was your work with the Tesseract that drew Loki and his allies back to Earth,” Thor added. 

“I think everyone needs to calm down,” River said. “Especially you, Dr. Banner. In fact, you might want to remove yourself from this situation.”

“Leave him alone. He’s fine,” Stark said.

River would beg to differ. Banner was starting to look distinctly green under the collar to her. This situation need to get diffused and fast.

*****

“You’ve got him. Oh, my God, you’ve got him!”

Rory grabbed the Doctor by the shoulders and gave him a celebratory shake. The pile of junk that the Doctor had fused together in the middle of the lab had finally done its work. After cycling through dozens and dozens of hits, it had finally landed on Clint. 

“So, where is he?” Rory asked.

The Doctor was still hunched over his laptop, punching keys. “I need to narrow it down, but he’s close.” 

“Well, that’s good,” Rory said. “I can go get River right now. We can round up a rescue party or something and go get him.”

“No,” the Doctor said. He sounded preoccupied rather than happy. He was still keying commands into his computer. “Clint’s _very_ close. Something isn’t quite right here.”

*****

Clint stood behind the pilot and copilot of the stolen quinjet, watching their approach to the Helicarrier. As expected, they’d been hailed by the SHIELD flight controllers. Clint nodded in silent approval as the pilot flawlessly fed back the codes and cargo information.

“Lower the cargo door as we come around the starboard side,” Clint instructed before ducking back into the hold. 

His hired guns were getting suited up in SHIELD tactical gear. Clint wove his way through them, heading for his weapons case. He shouldered his quiver and unfolded his bow. As the cargo door started to come down, Clint drew the arrow he’d adapted specifically for this part of the plan.

One clear shot at an engine. That was all he needed.

*****

Things in the lab were deteriorating fast. River wondered if she should warn Security to don riot gear.

Amy sidled up beside her. “Maybe I should go get the Doctor,” she whispered. “Maybe he can referee. Or do something completely mad to distract everyone.”

“I think we’re past that point,” River whispered back.

Stark and Rogers were up in each others’ faces, looking like they were going to start swinging at each other any given second. Fury and Thor were debating Earth/alien relations in voices that had risen to shouts. None of this was helping Banner’s condition in the slightest.

“All of you, SHUT UP!” he shouted.

When a man whose documented response to anger and stress was to hulk out into a huge, raging monster took that tone, he got results. Even Thor, who had probably missed out on the news footage, piped down.

River’s hand drifted to her sidearm. She noticed Fury doing the same.

Banner’s shoulders were hunched defensively, and even from where she was standing River could tell that his vitals were spiking. 

“This is supposed to be a team?” Banner said, stepping away from his worktable, advancing into the middle of the room. His gaze was fixed on Fury. “If Phase 2 is mass destruction, then what do you think that makes us? This little initiative of yours? We’re a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We’re a time bomb. What do you really think is going to happen?”

“Dr. Banner.” Fury’s voice was as low and calm as River had ever heard it. “Put down the scepter.”

Banner looked confused for a moment, and then blinked down at Loki’s scepter, held tight in his hand. It looked to River like he hadn’t realized he’d even picked it up.

There was a long, tense moment of silence before the spell was broken by a cheerful, computerized beeping from Banner’s workstation.

“Is that. . .” Stark asked.

Banner set aside the scepter, suddenly all business again. “We got a hit on the cube, yeah.”

Banner moved over the check his instruments. In the same moment, River heard footsteps pounding down the corridor outside, approaching the lab. They were accompanied by a familiar voice.

“River!”

“Now what?” River heard Fury mutter as the Doctor careened into the lab, holding a laptop. 

“River!” The Doctor halted for a second, glancing around at the assembled. . .what had Banner called them? Time-bomb components. That somehow seemed apt, River thought. 

“Oh, hello,” the Doctor said. “I didn’t realize there was a meeting. I really should have been informed, but completely not important at the moment. River, I’ve found him. I’ve found Clint.”

In an instant, River forgot all about Stark and Rogers and the rest. 

“Where?” she said, hurrying over to look at the Doctor’s laptop screen.

“Well, that’s the bit that has me concerned,” the Doctor said. He balanced the computer on one hand and with the other pointed off to the southwest. “He’s hovering in midair approximately three hundred yards that way.”

“What?”

River’s eyes met the Doctor’s and all of her senses went on alert as she calculated the likely implications.

A second later an explosion rocked the room.

The solid decking beneath River’s feet disappeared. For one disorienting moment all she saw was tumbling sparks and smoke before everything came to a painful and jarring halt. It took a few seconds for River’s brain to catch up with her body, and when it did she quickly processed several things. She was lying face-down on metal grating, klaxon alarms were sounding, she could hear shouting above her, and her right ankle was pinned under something heavy.

She was below decks in a maintenance area and she wasn’t alone.

River turned her head and saw Banner lying on the deck beside her. He was slowly starting to push himself up.

“Dr. Banner? Bruce? Are you all right?”

Banner didn’t answer her. His head was bowed and his back was hunched and, as River watched, something in his body seemed to shift. It was as if he was suddenly taking up more space. River saw the seams of his shirt begin to strain.

_Oh, no._

“Bruce?”

He turned his head to look at her then, and all River saw was green and anger. Banner scrambled away from her, into a more open area as his body continued to contort and transform. River put all of her energy into trying to jerk her foot free.

She had to run.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had initially planned to space these chapters out a bit more, but it's a dull, dreary Sunday here and I'm comfortably hunkered down at home. So, instead, I'm going to code and post--Chapter 5 this morning and Chapter 6 this afternoon.

_SHIELD Helicarrier_

Hill scrambled to keep up with the distress calls flooding into the bridge. Her station was lit up like the Las Vegas strip. The Helicarrier was crawling with mercs in SHIELD gear, the vessel was down an engine, and now they were experiencing the Avengers Initiative version of friendly fire.

Banner had been riding the ragged edge since he’d been brought on board, and the attack had apparently been the last straw. Half of the chatter Hill was getting were reports of Hulk-carnage below decks.

“Sir, the Hulk is going to tear this place apart,” Hill called over her shoulder to Fury.

They were lucky to still be airborne as it was. If the Hulk went on a rampage anywhere near their remaining engines, they’d be down.

 _“Ah, hello?”_ A familiar voice cut through the chatter. Hill pressed her comm a little closer to her ear.

“Doctor?” 

_“Agent Hill! Good. I picked the right channel. Don’t worry. We’re on our way to do something about Dr. Banner now.”_

At another time, Hill would have had serious reservations about that statement, not to mention a lot of questions (like who _we_ was and what the hell they were planning to do). This was not that time.

“Acknowledged, Doctor. Be careful.”

“And you, Agent Hill.”

*****

“What exactly are we going to do about the Hulk?” Amy asked as she and the Doctor ran back to the Doctor’s lab.

Amy hadn’t seen much of the Hulk, but what she had seen didn’t look like it could be easily fought. It definitely didn’t look like it could be reasoned with. Dr. Banner’s alter ego seemed intent on smashing the Helicarrier apart from the inside out. As if the men with guns weren’t enough of a problem.

And where the hell was Rory? The Doctor had said he’d sent him to go find Phil to tell him about Clint. Amy had called for him over her fancy SHIELD communicator, but hadn’t gotten an answer. She told herself not to worry. Rory knew how to take care of himself (and anyone else who might need help). He’d be fine.

“I think the best we’re going to be able to do is distract him,” the Doctor replied as they raced through the door of the TARDIS and up to the control platform. “We’ll try to give him something else to pay attention to.”

“What you mean. . .us?” Amy asked, watching as the Doctor fired up the TARDIS’s engines. “I’m not sure I like the sound of that.”

“What the--?”

Amy spun around to see Agent Li. He was sitting up on the sofa, blinking in confusion.

“Ah, Agent Li! Sorry to wake you, but things are starting to get interesting,” the Doctor said. “You may want to hold on to something. This could be a bumpy ride.”

As always, the Doctor was the master of understatement.

They found the Hulk on the outdoor portion of the lower aft hanger deck, systematically ripping apart aircraft and hurling the pieces at members of the ground crew. He didn’t take kindly to the TARDIS swooping in close to him. He took it even less kindly when the Doctor started broadcasting the sound of an air raid siren at ear-splitting decibels.

“Oh, yes. That’s got his attention,” the Doctor said, watching the Hulk’s reaction on a view screen.

“I think you’re making him angry. . .er,” Amy said. She and Agent Li were watching over the Doctor’s shoulders. 

“I think. . .oh, my God,” Agent Li added.

On the view screen, the Hulk let out an enraged roar and leapt off of the deck. The green form filled the screen and then the TARDIS shuddered and dipped as the Hulk landed on it.

*****

_One problem down,_ Hill thought.

She had watched the Hulk jump onto the TARDIS, clinging to it like a green King Kong on a tiny blue tower. The TARDIS spun away from the Helicarrier, moving off to the starboard side. The Hulk was beating and scraping his hands against the sides of the blue box, which in turn was bucking through the air like a rodeo horse.

Then, suddenly, the TARDIS was gone and the Hulk plummeted out of sight.

“Did that thing just disappear?” Sitwell asked.

Hill shook her head. “We’ll figure it out later. Send extra security down to the detention level. I want Coulson to have plenty of back-up down there.”

*****

Rory had been on his way to the bridge when the attack started, and he’d quickly gotten sidetracked. Injured people, fires, a large green monster, and men with guns shooting at everything in sight? It was all a little distracting. Without knowing quite how it had happened, Rory found himself three decks below his starting point, nowhere near the bridge.

On the plus side, no one was shooting at him for the moment. Rory took a moment to catch his breath, leaning back against a wall.

In spite of near constant stream of overlapping chatter coming through his ear comm, he nearly jumped out of his skin when Phil Coulson’s voice cut through, addressing him directly.

 _“During the initial attack River fell through the deck and got trapped in the lower levels with the Hulk,”_ Coulson said. _“I can’t raise her and I’m needed at the armory. Can you go find her?”_

“Yeah. I mean yes. Roger.”

 _“The_ yeah _covered it,”_ Coulson said. _”Thanks, Rory. Watch yourself.”_

It wasn’t hard to track the path of the Hulk. The creature had cut a swath of utter destruction through the lower levels of the Helicarrier. Rory followed the trail of smashed bulkheads, torn metal, and broken glass almost all the way to the hanger before he found what he was looking for.

“Did anyone get the number of that train?” River groaned as Rory helped her sit up, propping her against a dented bulkhead.

“No number, but I hear it was large and green,” Rory replied, checking her pupils. “Are your fingers and toes working? 

“Well enough.” 

Rory was just helping River to her feet when things seemed to go oddly quiet. The hum of white noise being generated by the engines had been cut by half. 

“Is that what I think it was?”

“We’ve lost another engine,” River said. “We’re going down.”

Rory was just about to inquire about the Helicarrier equivalent of vests and life boats when Director Fury’s voice came across the comm.

 _“Agent Barton has taken out our systems.”_ River immediately stood at attention. _“He’s heading for the detention level. I need agents to intercept. Does anybody copy?”_

“This is Agent Song. I copy,” River said. She looked at Rory. “We can get to the detention level this way. Come on.”

Rory followed River into the maze of tunnels. She was moving stiffly, limping a little, but Rory still had to look sharp to keep up with her.

“Are you sure this is such a good idea?” Rory said. “You’re not exactly in peak form right now, you know. Maybe someone else should go after him.”

“Someone else won’t be worried about taking him alive,” River said, pausing at a convergence of tunnels and peering down one of them. “I can’t take the risk.”

“Right. Okay.” Rory nodded. “What can I do to help?”

He watched River rapidly weighing options, then she took her gun from its holster and handed it to him. “Take this,” she said, “and if anyone tries to come down this way, shoot them.”

“Shoot them.” Rory looked down at the gun. “Right. I can do that.”

“Remember, the intruders are in SHIELD gear. Don’t trust anyone.”

River disappeared down the tunnel and Rory spent a tense few minutes looking up and down the corridor from his guard post. He thought he heard sounds of a struggle in the distance, but the Helicarrier was crawling with bad people, so who knew? Rory let out a very relieved sigh when he heard River’s voice in his ear.

 _“Okay.”_ She sounded winded. _“I’ve got him. Rory, I need you down here. Straight down the tunnel, about forty yards.”_

Rory found them easily enough. River was bleeding from a few new places and Clint was laid out unconscious on the deck, a bruise forming on his forehead and another on his jaw. Rory didn’t have time to do much more than check vitals before two teams, one from Security and one from Medical, converged on them.

“We’ll take him from here,” one of the medics said. 

His tone kind of implied _buzz off,_ but River followed the stretcher anyway, and Rory followed River. They had just reached the Medical wing when Director Fury came over the comms with words that brought both Rory and River up short.

_“Agent Coulson is down.”_

*****

“Five days. We’ve been gone five days,” Amy said in disgust as the TARDIS landed on the deck of the Helicarrier.

“I am going to be in so much trouble. You guys don’t even know,” Agent Li said, looking at the door with something like dread. 

“Time travel people. Remember? Do I have to explain this again?” the Doctor said, powering down the engines. Really, Pond and Li had done nothing but fret the whole time they’d been gone. “Yes, from our perspective we’ve been gone for five days. From SHIELD’s perspective we’ve been gone,” the Doctor checked his watch, “about forty-five minutes. They probably haven’t even had a chance to miss us.”

The TARDIS hadn’t appreciated being used as the Hulk’s punching bag. After unsuccessfully trying to throw him off, she’d simply phased to a different point in Time, leaving the Hulk in mid-air several thousand feet above the ground. She’d then spent the next five days in what the Doctor could only term “a snit,” refusing to move. The Doctor, Amy, and Agent Li had been forced to cool their heels in 15th Century Tuscany. 

At least they’d landed during the grape harvest.

“And may I remind you,” the Doctor added, leading the way down the stairs to the control room floor, “we now have very important information, like exactly what Loki plans to use the Tesseract for.”

The Doctor hadn’t been sitting idle in Tuscany, oh no. The TARDIS may have refused to move, but her communication systems had worked just fine. The Doctor had put out calls to everyone he could think of who might have heard news or rumors about Asgard’s prodigal prince.

His old friend, Dorium, had come through. _“Loki’s fallen in with Thanos, an especially nasty intergalactic warlord,”_ Dorium had told him. _“Thanos wants the Tesseract. He’s promised Loki an army to help him conquer Earth in exchange for delivering it. All your young Asgardian friend has to do is use the Tesseract to open a wormhole and let his army through.”_

Bad news, but bad news still beat complete ignorance.

The Doctor pressed his ear briefly to the TARDIS’s doors, listening for sounds of battle outside. “Sounds quiet enough. Shall we?”

They stepped out of the TARDIS cautiously. The attack seemed to be over, but at least here in the hanger there was destruction as far as the eye could see.

“There’s Rory,” Amy said, sounding relieved. She ran forward to meet him.

Rory smiled when Amy threw her arms around his neck and he hugged her back tightly. He had a funny sort on his face though, the Doctor thought as he walked up to join them. It wasn’t the usual, uncomplicated _Yay, I have an Amy!_ look that it normally was. Amy seemed to sense something off as well because she pulled back with a frown.

“Rory? What is it? What’s wrong?” she asked.

Rory swallowed hard as he looked at Amy and the Doctor.

“It’s Phil.”

****

River had wanted Dr. Levine to examine Clint. It wasn’t that River doubted the competency of the other doctors on the Helicarrier (SHIELD only employed the best) but Judith Levine was one of their own from the New York base. She was the doctor River knew the best and trusted the most.

But Levine’s specialty was in trauma medicine, which meant that she already had more patients than she could juggle. Clint’s injuries weren’t deemed serious enough to warrant her attention. He had been passed off to a Dr. Hevner from the Los Angeles base instead. He refused to let River stay for the exam.

“We’ll call you when we know something,” Dr. Hevner said, ushering her out of the medical bay. 

Keeping her expression blank and her shoulders squared, River walked down the corridor until she came to a deep alcove. This part of the medical section was deserted, perhaps proving that God was still doling out small favors if nothing else. Stepping into the hidden nook, River let herself slide down the wall until she was sitting in the floor, trying to remember how to breathe.

Phil was dead. River wondered if she looped that sentence through her head enough times, it would eventually start to make sense. 

And Clint? There was no telling what was going to happen to Clint. What if his recognizing her had been a fluke? What if Loki still had some hold on him? What if he was himself again, but she’d cracked his skull? What if Loki had left some kind of parting gift inside his head – a little self-destruct button in his brain just waiting to go off?

River rested her elbows on her knees and pressed the heels of her hands against her eyes. What if she lost the two people she cared about more than anything else in the universe on the same day?

She had lost people before, more of them than she cared to count. With what they did for a living, River always knew in the back of her head that any one of them could be killed in the line of duty on any given mission. There had been times when they’d come close, too, but not like this. 

She had to get a grip on herself. She was not exactly a low profile individual in the world of SHIELD, and she couldn’t be seen publically giving into despair. Besides, there was a huge, terrifying bigger picture out there to consider. They’d taken heavy losses, the Helicarrier was limping, God alone knew where Banner and Thor were, Loki had escaped, and there was an alien device out there just waiting to be set off. No matter how bad things seemed right now, everyone knew that worse was still to come.

But here, just for a few minutes, she could stop. She could mourn for one person that she loved and she could be scared for the other. And she could be scared for herself at the thought of being left all alone again.

It looked like Loki was right about her after all.

River startled when someone slid down into the floor next to her and wrapped an arm tightly around her shoulders. It was Amy. 

“Hey. What can we do?”

River looked at Amy and, to her horror, felt her throat close up and tears blur her eyes. She was spared the embarrassment actually crying by the distraction of voices and footsteps approaching in the corridor.

“Amy?” Rory’s voice called.

“We’re down here,” Amy called back. 

Rory and the Doctor appeared at the entry to the alcove. Like Amy, they looked rather worse for wear. Also, rather incongruously, they were each carrying two steaming mugs. Rory handed one of his to Amy and the other to River. 

“We found a working kitchen,” Rory explained. He sat down in the floor across from Amy and River, letting his feet gently bump Amy’s. “Well, working enough to boil water, anyway. The Doctor thought we could all use it.”

“My own special blend,” the Doctor added, handing one of his mugs down to Rory. He remained standing, leaning tiredly against the wall. “Two thirds English breakfast, one third Nova blend from Praxis 4, and a shot of Trion essence. Plus milk and sugar. Excellent when the constitution needs a boost.”

River looked down into the mug of milky brown liquid. It looked like regular tea. It smelled. . .not like regular tea, but not unpleasantly so. She took a long drink. She had no idea about Nova blends or what Trion essence even was. But she could certainly use a boost to her constitution right about now, and tea was tea.

“River?” Rory said. River looked up at him. “I’m sorry—we’re all sorry—about Phil. He was a really good man.”

River nodded, not trusting herself to talk just yet. They all lapsed into silence more out of sheer fatigue than lack of anything to say. Amy kept her arm around River. River had nearly finished her tea (and she was fairly certain that the Doctor was keeping an eye on the level of liquid in her cup) before the Time Lord broached a new topic.

“How is Clint?” the Doctor asked. “Have they told you anything?”

River shook her head.

“They’re still examining him,” she said. “They wouldn’t let me stay. Physically, they think he’s okay. The fight didn’t do too much damage.”

She’d tried to make sure of that.

“Except,” River half-laughed, “I rammed him head-first into a metal railing. After I did that it was like he recognized me again. Like it broke whatever hold Loki had on him.”

“Cognitive recalibration,” the Doctor said. “It’s sort of like rebooting a computer. Basically, you hit him really hard in the head. Reset his brain and eliminated the glitches.”

“But that’s good, yeah?” Amy said. “If it’s got him back to normal, I mean. Did he act like himself after that?”

River shrugged a bit helplessly.

“I have no idea. I knocked his lights out.”

“Oh.”

“You think it really could be that easy?” Rory asked the Doctor. “Not that it was easy,” he hastily added to River. “Still, just one good knock on the head?”

“I suppose we’ll find out when he wakes up,” The Doctor said.

 _And then what?_ River thought, eying the dregs of tea in the bottom of her mug. What they really needed was a way to scan a person’s brain for signs of alien control. SHIELD didn’t have anything like that.

 _SHIELD_ didn’t.

Rory and the Doctor were arguing; something about the finer points of head trauma. They broke off when River abruptly sat up straight, putting her mug down on the floor.

“Doctor, I need you to do something for me.”

The Doctor looked at her curiously. “If it’s in my power, it’s yours. You know that.”

“I need you to take a look at a patient.”

*****

Clint was still unconscious and under restraint in Medical Bay 4, strapped to the gurney like the medical staff thought they were dealing with the Hulk himself. There had been a guard on duty as well when River and her entourage had arrived. She had attempted to send him packing. When that hadn’t worked, she’d punched him in the face, knocking him out. Amy and Rory had helpfully dragged him to a storage closet down the hall, then taken up watch outside the door. River could see them through the window, standing side-by-side and blocking any outsider from observing, let alone wandering in.

“Are you sure about this?” the Doctor said. “He’s already had one alien monkeying about in his brain. He may not thank you for asking me to do the same.”

“I’m sure,” River said. “We need to know if Loki still has any sort of hold on him.”

And they needed to know for Clint’s sake as much as anything. After that flash she’d seen down in the on the lower decks, River was clinging to the hope that Clint would be himself again once he woke up, but they had to be certain. She had to be able to tell Clint that it was really over.

The Doctor nodded and stepped closer to the gurney, bending over Clint and resting a hand on either side of his face. River held her breath trying to be as quiet as possible. She’d seen the Doctor do this once before, back on the _Byzantium._ She remembered the crack Clint had made at the time: _What, are you Vulcan now?_

God, she hoped this worked.

She flinched when Clint suddenly and violently jerked against his restraints, turning his head as if he were trying to get away from this new invasion. The Doctor remained calm, eyes closed, a look of intense concentration on his face.

“There now, it’s all right,” he said. “I’m just making sure everything’s safe. Checking the perimeter, isn’t that what you say? Oh, and you’ve had some cowboys in here, haven’t you?” There was a long pause before the Doctor spoke again. “I won’t look. I won’t look at anything you don’t want me to see. Just close it off. That’s right.”

Finally the Doctor dropped his hands and straightened up. He looked like every muscle in his body had been pulled too tight, and River knew that what she had asked of him must have been as unpleasant for the Doctor as it had been for Clint. But when he turned to River his smile was easy and there was genuine relief in his eyes.

“It’s all clear,” the Doctor said. “The link is properly severed. No unpleasant surprises.”

“You’re sure?”

The Doctor nodded. “He may be a little disoriented when he wakes up, but he’s his own man again. Loki can’t get back in.”

River nodded. “Good,” she said, busying herself with undoing Clint’s restraints. If he was no longer under Loki’s control then, as far as River was concerned, there was no need of them.

That would be one less problem to handle when Clint woke up. 

God knew, there were plenty more they’d have to deal with.

*****

Amy and Rory stood in the hall outside of the medical bay, keeping an eye on their friends inside. The Doctor seemed to be settling in to stay with River, presumably until Clint woke up. It looked like Amy and Rory were on _bugger off_ duty for the duration.

That was fine by Amy. She’d relish telling someone to bugger off right now. The truth was, what she really wanted to do was sit down and have a good long cry, but that was going to have to wait. Loki, that little horned bastard, had gotten away which meant that this wasn’t over yet. Since crying was out, unleashing a good healthy dose of Scottish wrath on someone seemed like a welcome alternative.

Poor Rory just looked like he’d been beaten.

“What are they going to do?” he said as they watched River and Clint. “I mean Phil. . .half the time it seemed like he was their dad or something. What are they going to do without him?”

There was that _wanting to cry_ feeling again. Amy couldn’t quite hold back a sniffle this time, but that was all right because it was Rory.

“They’ll be okay. They’re both really tough, we know that.” Amy gave her eyes a quick scrub. “And if they aren’t okay, we’ll just look after them until they are, that’s all.”

Rory’s arm came up around her. “Yeah. We’ll do that.”

*****

Somehow he had lost his footing.

Hawkeye always prided himself on never falling. No matter how precarious a perch he picked as his vantage point, his balance was always sure. It was an inborn trait that had been honed by spending several formative years goofing around with the acrobats at Carson’s Carnival. If he hadn’t stumbled into his own act as a marksman so early on he probably would have been drafted onto the high wire. 

Coulson had occasionally disputed his _I never fall_ claim, especially when Clint had been new to SHIELD. 

_“And what do you call what that was?” his handler asked him, nodding at the collection of bruises and the sling supporting the young agent’s dislocated shoulder._

_“Jumping with style,” Clint replied with a grin which only widened when Coulson covered his eyes and groaned._

But he was falling now, and felt as if he’d been falling for a very long time. The world was rushing past him in a cacophony sounds and images, and he couldn’t grab onto anything long enough to get his bearings. Being under Loki’s control had been all calm and order and focus. No mess, no emotion. Coming out from under that control felt like pure chaos.

“Clint, you’re going to be all right.”

It was the voice rather than the words that caught Clint and started to center him. That was River’s voice. That was River’s hand he could feel on his arm. He thought he even caught a whiff of her soap. Clint focused on those things as he rode out the fall, until the world began to right itself again.

When reality snapped back into place, it did so fairly abruptly. Clint blinked at the austere grey walls of a medical bay. He was lying, half-raised, on a gurney. River was sitting beside him. She looked tired and disheveled, but relieved.

The Doctor, who was standing behind her, was positively beaming.

“I think he’s back,” the Time Lord said.

Clint swallowed around a painful dryness in his throat. (He honestly couldn’t remember the last time he’d had something to drink. Or food. Or sleep.) He should say something. God knew there was plenty that he wanted to say.

_I didn’t want to do it._

_Christ, I’m glad to see you._

_I’m so, so sorry._

What actually came out of his mouth was, “Where are the guards?”

Mind control or no mind control, Clint had just led an attack on SHIELD. That made him an enemy combatant, at least until the World Security Council determined that he legitimately hadn’t been responsible for his actions. 

The Doctor frowned like he suspected that Clint was still a bit muddled, but River got his meaning immediately. Clint was almost taken aback by the dangerous _over my dead body_ look that came into her eyes.

River leaned back so that Clint could see the door. Through the window he saw a familiar pair of people, definitely not SHIELD. 

“I think any guard who wants that sentry point is going to have to fight Amy for it,” River said lightly. She got up off the side of the gurney, helping Clint unnecessarily as he sat up and slung his legs over the side. 

“Yes,” the Doctor agreed. He had stepped into the medical bay’s tiny bathroom, emerging a moment later with a cup of water that he handed to Clint. “And believe you me, I’d put my money on Pond over SHIELD Security. Drink that.”

Clint obediently drank the water, feeling the creakiness in his throat ease. “Loki?” he said. “He got away?”

That would explain why no one had bothered to toss him into a cell yet. Bigger fish.

River nodded an affirmative. “I don’t suppose you know where he’d have retreated to?”

“No. I didn’t need to know, so I didn’t ask.” 

He didn’t even know where Selvig had taken the Tesseract. That hadn’t had any bearing on his part in planning the attack. It was basic strategy; compartmentalization of knowledge. 

“I know he’s going to make his move soon, and it’s going to be public, wherever it is,” Clint said. “We need Phil. Tell him he needs to start looking for unusual movement in highly populated areas. The Tesseract was being moved in a convoy of trucks. It’s a long shot, but if--”

Clint looked up at River and the rest of his idea evaporated. All of the blood had drained out of her face, making her eyes look much, much darker than they ordinarily did. 

Clint felt a ball of ice form in the pit of his stomach.

“What?”

River looked over at the Doctor. “Could you give us a few minutes?” she asked.

The Doctor just nodded. No clever quips, no cheerful reply. He looked. . . _sad,_ and that caused the ice in Clint’s stomach to start creeping up toward his heart.

“We’ll be right outside if you need us,” the Doctor said, and stepped out of the room to join Amy and Rory in the hallway.

Clint watched him go, gripping the edges of the gurney tightly. Without his permission, his brain was starting to make unwelcome connections.

“River,” he said, “where’s Phil?”

*****

There were certain schools of thought that suggested that people who lived exceptionally long lives, like Time Lords, became immune to feeling strong emotions. The theory was that, after a handful of centuries, things simply stopped mattering. That psychic scar tissue built up to the point that it was hard if not impossible to feel anything.

Sometimes the Doctor wished that was true, but after a thousand years or so he hadn’t reached that point. Knowing that Phil was dead hurt. Seeing River and Clint in this kind of pain hurt even more.

The Doctor watched the two agents through the window of the medical bay door. They were sitting side-by-side on the gurney, River talking, Clint staring at the floor. The Doctor watched Clint’s body grow tenser and tenser until, right in the middle of something River was saying, he sprang up off the gurney. He crossed the medical bay in three quick steps and shut himself in the bathroom. River slumped back against the bulkhead, rubbing her hands over her face.

The Doctor moved a bit away from the window, closer to Amy and Rory.

“Uh oh.” Something up the corridor had caught Rory’s attention. “Head’s up.”

The Doctor glanced sharply in the same direction. There had been some concern about SHIELD Security coming down to lock Clint up pending treason charges, even if he hadn’t been acting of his own volition. (The Doctor hypothetically wished them luck getting through River.) It wasn’t a security squad that was approaching, though.

It was Captain America.

*****

Steve slowed his pace when he saw the Doctor and his companions blocking the way to Medical Bay 4.

They all looked grim. No wonder. They had lost a friend today. Agent Coulson’s death had hit everyone hard. Even Stark had been somber and subdued. There would be time to mourn later, though. Right now there was a battle coming and they were two soldiers down. Banner and Thor had yet to resurface and there was no telling if they were going to. It was time to rally the troops who were left.

“I need to get in there,” Steve said, going to edge past them. He needed to talk to Agent Song.

He had to pull up short when Amy stepped into his path. “Not right now,” she said.

“I’m afraid it can’t wait,” Steve said, starting to push past her. Amy planted a hand in the middle of his chest and pushed right back.

“Not. Right. Now,” she said again. “They’re dealing with some stuff and don’t need any more trouble, so,” Amy pointed an imperious finger back down the hall, “just keep walking, Yankee Doodle.”

_Yankee Doodle?_

Amy and the others turned as the door of the medical bay opened and Agent Song stepped out. 

“What’s going on out here?” she asked.

*****

Clint braced his hands on the edges of the sink, catching his breath.

He had known what River was going to tell him before she’d even started talking. The way her face had gone white when he’d mentioned Phil’s name had said more than any words could. When she’d sat down beside him and started to tell him what had happened, it was all Clint could do not to get up and run.

He’d managed to hold on until, _Phil tried to stop Loki from getting away, but Loki took him down. By the time Medical got there it was too late. Fury was with him when he--_ At that point, Clint’s body had moved of its own accord. He’d just barely made it into the bathroom before his stomach attempted to turn itself completely inside out. 

It might have had more luck if he’d eaten anything in the last twenty-four hours. Phil would get after him for that. If Phil wasn’t. . .

Clint turned the faucet on and splashed water into his face. He couldn’t. Call him a coward or whatever for not being able to face it, but he couldn’t think about what had happened to Phil. Especially since it had happened because he—Clint—had led such a successful attack on his own people.

He could hear voices outside. Clint couldn’t make out words, but it sounded like at least one new person had joined the party in the medical bay. Security, probably. Clint rested his hand on the doorknob and braced himself. He couldn’t hide in here forever, much as he might want to.

No one noticed him at first. River, the Doctor, Amy, Rory, and Captain Rogers were congregated in the doorway of the medical bay. Rogers was talking.

“—to Stark Tower. Loki can tie Selvig’s device into Stark’s self-perpetuating energy source, which means there will be no way cut power to it.”

“And as a bonus, Loki can rub Stark’s nose the fact that his own technology is being used against us,” River added.

“If he succeeds in opening a portal. . .” the Doctor said. “Well, portals are tricky things. Once opened they can be hard to close again. It would be best if we can stop this invasion before it starts.”

“That’s the idea,” Rogers said. “Agent Song, can you fly one of those jets?”

“I can,” Clint said, stepping up to the group.

No doctor in their right mind would clear him for duty right now. Security (not mention Fury and Hill) would probably have some choice words to say about it as well, but Clint didn’t care. He had to do something to start undoing the damage he’d done. 

Clint wasn’t sure what sort of reception his offer would get from Captain America, but all it took was a nod from River for Rogers to go from uncertain to accepting.

“Good,” Rogers said. “Because if we can’t stop the portal from opening, we’re going to be in for a hell of a fight. We’ll need you. That goes for you guys, too.” 

Rogers looked to the Doctor, Amy, and Rory. 

“Doctor, your ship. You say it’s bigger on the inside. How big?” The Doctor frowned, looking a little confused. “If things go badly, how many people could you shelter?” Rogers asked.

Understanding dawned on the Time Lord’s face.

“My ship is infinite on the inside, Captain. I could shelter every person in the city provided they could get through the doors.”

“Let’s hope that doesn’t wind up being necessary.” Rogers was smiling a little. “All right, good. Let’s get a move on. We have work to do.”

*****

They didn’t waste any time getting ready to depart the Helicarrier. Rory suspected that was because this little mission wasn’t exactly what their SHIELD friends would call _sanctioned._

“We should probably move the infirmary up close to the entrance of the TARDIS, don’t you think?” Rory said as he, Amy, and the Doctor entered the hanger. “I mean, just in case. If they can’t head off the invasion, we might wind up with people coming in hurt.”

“Yeah, and it might be good to move some of the really big rooms up close to the doors, too,” Amy added. “Like the gymnasium. A lot of people can fit in there.”

“Yes,” the Doctor agreed.

Clint, River, and the Captain were already in the hanger, on their way to hijack a jet. They had stopped to exchange a quick word with Tony Stark who was outfitted in his (somewhat dented and scuffed) Iron Man suit. The Doctor drifted to a halt, watching them.

“What is it?” Amy asked. “You have a funny look on your face.”

“I think I’ve just figured out what this is,” the Doctor said. 

“What this is?” Rory frowned. “What do you mean? Is this one of those fixed points in Time that you talk about?”

He hoped not. Whatever was going to happen, Rory really hoped they had some chance of improving upon it.

The Doctor shook his head. “No, not a fixed point,” he said, watching Stark move on, headed for the outer deck. The Captain, River, and Clint boarded their jet. “A _turning_ point.” He grinned at Rory and Amy. “Let’s get going. You heard the Captain. We have a city to save.”


	6. Chapter 6

_New York_

Stark easily outstripped the quinjet, even in his damaged suit. River wasn’t sure about the advisability of letting him go out ahead all on his own. On the other hand, he was the only one with any reasonable chance of cutting power to Loki’s portal generator and heading off Loki’s invading army. 

But as fast as Stark was, he wasn’t fast enough. The quinjet was still inbound when River saw a beam of blue energy shoot into the sky over Midtown. 

“The device is active,” River said, watching as the energy seemed to pool in the air hundreds of feet above the skyline.

“So much for heading this off at the pass,” Clint said. River had never been so grateful to hear that business-like, slightly sardonic tone. That was how Clint always sounded when a mission was going sideways.

Captain Rogers leaned in behind them to look out the windscreen.

“All right,” he said. “That means we’re officially moving to Plan B. Doctor, did you get that?”

_“We did, Captain,”_ the Doctor replied over the comms. 

“Stark?” Rogers said. “What’s your situation?”

Even as he asked, River could see small explosions dotting the air around the energy column. 

_“Alien invasion,”_ Stark replied shortly. _“Where the hell are you guys? Swing up Park. I’m going to lay them out for you.”_

Clint guided the jet between the buildings, heading up Park Avenue toward Stark Tower. On the streets below River could see that the city was already being thrown into chaos. Cars were on fire, parts of buildings had been blown away, and people were running, trying to get to shelter. There were Chitauri ships everywhere. River tried to glean as many details on the fly as she could: the ships looked like open speeders of some kind, each manned by two aliens, armed and highly maneuverable. 

They _were_ vulnerable to gunfire. That at least was something. River manned the onboard guns while Clint guided the jet. She easily destroyed the dozen or so craft that Stark led across their path, but the dent that made in their numbers was miniscule. There had to be hundreds of them. 

“Get us up to the top of the Tower,” Rogers instructed. “Loki and his portal generator are up there.”

Loki wasn’t the only one on top of Stark Tower. When the jet came level with the penthouse landing pad, they could see a familiar and distinctive figure in a red cape.

“Cap, Thor’s back in the game,” Clint said. 

The brothers were clearly in the middle of sorting out their differences. That was all the reconnaissance they had time for before Loki looked up, spotted their jet, and then a blast of energy from his scepter knocked them out of the sky.

*****

The view from the ground wasn’t a great improvement in Steve’s opinion.

Barton had somehow managed to put the jet down in a semi-controlled fashion, landing on the patio area of a café at the base of Stark Tower. It was a testament to the man’s piloting skill, that was for sure. The jet wasn’t going to be airworthy again without significant repair, but they were all in one piece. 

At least, they were for the time being. The Chituari who were strafing the streets of Midtown were doing enough damage, but they were just the advance guard. Now they had. . .

“Whales,” Agent Song said flatly. “We have flying whales.”

Steve couldn’t help but gape slightly. The flying whales seemed to be the Chitauri version of armored personnel carriers. Steve could see more of the aliens leaping off of the giant animals (vehicles?), landing on the sides of buildings, breaking in through the windows.

Steve and Agents Barton and Song had taken cover behind a pair of abandoned taxies to regroup and assess the situation. They were on the ground. Stark and Thor were currently up top. Their third team should be in position by now.

“Doctor, what’s your status?” Steve said.

_“We’re here, Captain,”_ the Doctor replied. _“We’ve set up the TARDIS in the main doorway of the Newman Building. Pond and I—right though there, everyone, straight through the doors—are outside directing traffic. Send people toward us if you can.”_

_“Yeah, and if you see any bored looking medical personnel, definitely send them our way,”_ Rory’s voice cut in. He sounded harried. _“We’re already swamped and people are hurt.”_

“Got it,” Steve said. That accounted for everyone. “So we just need to--”

Steve had heard about Agent Barton’s sharp eyes, but he must have pretty sharp ears as well, because he suddenly straightened, on alert, and looked back over his shoulder. He broke into a broad grin. Steve followed his gaze, wondering what the hell could have caused that sort of response.

A small, dilapidated motorcycle puttered toward their position, steering around piles of smoking rubble. The man riding it looked a little dilapidated too, but damn if he wasn’t a welcome sight. He stopped a few yards away from Steve and the two agents.

“So. This all looks horrible,” Banner said.

Steve found himself matching Agent Barton’s grin. “Stark? We’ve got Banner. The team’s all here.”

*****

_Barton, I want you on that roof, eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays._

Until they could figure out some way to get Loki’s portal closed, Rogers wanted to keep the Chitauri and the fighting confined to this section of Midtown. So far, they were managing to hold the ground. From his vantage point, Clint could see Stark alternately leading and herding the Chitauri back inside the three-block perimeter they were trying to maintain. Thor and the Hulk alternated between fighting high and fighting low. Clint never would have pegged Banner’s alter ego as someone he’d want to go into battle with, but the big guy was definitely giving them an edge. At the very least, he was beating up on the right people. Hell, he’d stopped one of those armored whales in its tracks with a single fist to the face.

River and Rogers were fighting in the streets. Clint didn’t think anyone would hold it against him if he kept a closer eye on River than the others. He also paid special attention to the Newman Building entrance where the TARDIS was set up. The Doctor and Amy were outside of the TARDIS, grabbing civilians and guiding them to safety inside of the blue box. They might not be in the thick of the fighting, but they _were_ putting themselves in an extremely vulnerable position. Clint had sniped more than one Chitauri foot soldier who had tried to move in and take out the rescuers.

He was also picking off Chitauri in the air. It hadn’t taken Clint long to start recognizing the patterns and structure in the seeming free-for-all of flying aliens and figuring out which ones to shoot down in order to disrupt their attack. 

_I keep telling you that you have a hell of a head for strategy, kid,_ Coulson’s voice said in the back of his mind.

Clint quickly shut his out his friend’s voice, drawing and firing on another Chitauri.

He had just sent an arrow through the eye of a foot soldier who was charging at Amy when River’s voice came over the comm.

_“Hawkeye? I need a little help.”_

It took him several seconds to find River. She had been fighting on the overpass with Cap. Now Clint’s eyes widened as he saw a small figure in black go flashing by on one of the Chitauri speeders. 

“River, what the hell are you doing?”

_“Loki’s on my tail. Can you get him off of it?”_

Clint looked and, sure enough, a familiar figure in green and gold was chasing River’s commandeered speeder. He smiled. He had the perfect arrowhead for this.

“Don’t worry. I’ve got him,” Clint said, drawing his bow.

He knew that Loki saw the arrow coming. He could imagine the smug look on the Asgardian’s face when he caught it before it could slam home into his temple. Clint just wished he could have gotten a close-up look at the bastard’s face when the arrowhead exploded.

His satisfaction was short-lived. Clint wasn’t sure if it was in response to their leader being blown out of the sky, or if the Chitauri had finally just gotten wise to the sniper that had been thinning them out, but they were taking the offensive. Clint saw half a dozen of the speeders converge and start closing in on his position.

“Oh, shit.”

Clint took off running for the opposite edge of the roof, using the bow’s controls to pull up a grappling hook arrowhead. He felt the heat of an explosion behind him as he reached the edge of the roof and jumped.

*****

The TARDIS was a stalwart (not to mention practically indestructible) ship. So as much as Rory fancied he could hear the noise and feel the vibrations of the battle raging outside, he knew that it was only his imagination.

Now the cries of fear and pain in here? Those were all too real. Rory’s prediction of people coming in with injuries had, unfortunately, been very accurate. Nearly every bed in the TARDIS’s infirmary was currently occupied. There were more patients than Rory could possibly tend to on his own, but someone had taken him at his word when he’d asked for assistance. Half a dozen emergency responders had come in with one batch of civilians. After briefly balking at the sight of their “shelter” they’d accepted Rory’s urging to pick a station and get to work.

Thank goodness the TARDIS had the sense to make most of its medical equipment self-explanatory and dummy-proof.

The infirmary was open down one side, providing a view into the gymnasium. The Doctor had neglected to mention exactly what _kind_ of gymnasium it was, but it was considerably more vast than any of the ones Rory had been forced to run laps around in P.E. It was over half-full of confused and shaken people, and more were still coming in. 

One of the new arrivals, a stocky middle-aged man wearing a ripped white lab coat, came in helping a woman in a business suit. Even from several feet away Rory could tell that her arm was broken. He moved to help.

“Here, bring her this way,” he instructed the man, guiding them into the infirmary and to an available bed. “Don’t worry, we’re going to get that taken care of.”

The woman nodded shakily as she let Rory help her lie back. “There are monsters out there,” she said.

“I know, but they’re not getting in here. You’re safe.” Rory looked up to check on the woman’s friend only to find the man staring at him with very wide eyes. He looked more than a little bit shell-shocked. “You are,” Rory assured him. “Hey, are you all right, there?”

The man gaped silently for a moment, then seemed to collect himself and nodded. “I’m a doctor. Can I help?” he asked.

Rory smiled wryly. “I’m pretty sure I can find something for you to do.”

The man nodded again and then abruptly held out his hand. “Joe,” he said.

Rory’s smile softened as he shook the man’s hand. “Rory. Well then, Joe, you can start with the lady’s arm. Let me just show you how this works. . .”

*****

Under other circumstances, stealing one of the Chitauri speeders and bailing out over Stark Tower might have been simple, adrenaline-spiking fun. But River had had a specific mission in mind; the speeder was just a means to an end.

There had to be some way to shut the portal device down. River had seen and worked with a lot of advanced and alien tech over the course of her life. If she could just get a good look at it, she might see something useful.

As it turned out, she didn’t have to. Erik Selvig was on top of the tower as well. He’d been knocked about by something, and one of those knocks had clearly been to the head because he spilled into a confession as soon as he set eyes on River.

Cognitive recalibration in action.

Selvig was babbling a bit, but his confessional included the first bit of good news River had heard since the battle had started.

“I built in a safety to cut the power source,” he said. “Loki’s scepter. It might be able to close the portal.” Selvig pointed down to what was left of Stark’s penthouse patio. “And I’m looking right at it.”

*****

Being out on the streets might mean being at the center of the action, but it also made it very hard to tell what was going on. Amy could still hear clear sounds of battle raging, but the fighting seemed to have moved on from their immediate vicinity for the moment.

Amy coughed on a lungful of dust and smoke as she squinted up and down the street. She didn’t see any more Chitauri. The ground near her was littered with dead ones, most of them with arrows protruding from various body parts. She owed Clint a big thank-you hug when this was all over.

“I don’t see any more people. Do you?” she asked.

The Doctor was checking a reading on his sonic screwdriver. If it weren’t for his soot-streaked face and scorched jacket he might have been getting a read on the weather.

“I don’t,” the Doctor replied. “I think we can assume that everyone in this area who’s not already in the TARDIS has taken shelter elsewhere or didn’t make it.” He put the screwdriver away. “The fighting seems to have moved to the other side of the block.”

Amy was about to ask if they should relocate the TARDIS when she heard River’s voice over the comm.

_“I can close it!”_ River’s voice was muffled at first. There was a second of static, and then her voice came through loud and clear. _“Does anybody copy? I can close the portal.”_

_“Do it,”_ Rogers ordered immediately.

_“No, wait,”_ Stark said.

Having this many people talking in your ear at once was confusing. Amy wasn’t sure how Clint and River stood it.

_“Stark, these things are still coming.”_

_“We have a nuke coming in. It’s going to blow in under a minute. And I know just where to put it.”_

“Did he say a ‘nuke?’ Like, nuclear bomb?” Amy asked.

“No doubt someone’s idea of ending this cleanly,” the Doctor said. “Back into the TARDIS. Quickly.”

*****

Clint couldn’t see what was happening. He could _hear_ it, all of it, voices overlapping on the comm in his ear. But all he could see were beige ceiling tiles and (if he turned his head a few painful degrees to the left) the corner of a desk and some truly shitastic mauve carpet.

This wasn’t the first time Clint had ever rappelled through plate glass. This time sucked about as much as the first had. Consciousness kept threatening to desert him, only to come back in a rush along with random flares of pain. The impact with the glass had been like getting hit by a truck. Clint’s left knee felt like someone was stabbing it at regular, all-too-frequent intervals. He could feel shards of glass digging into his skin, and he’d managed to land on his back, directly on his quiver. 

Clint was pretty sure he hadn’t suffered spinal damage given that everything hurt so damn much, but his body also wasn’t allowing anything more than small careful movements right now. Even getting to a window to try to see what the hell was happening was out. All Clint could do was listen. 

He heard River say she could close the portal. _That’s my girl._ He heard Cap give the go ahead. He heard Stark tell her to wait, that there was a nuclear missile closing in on Midtown.

_Fucking World Security Council,_ Clint thought. Fury would never have done anything so asinine, not while his people were holding their ground.

It was going to cost them Stark. Like Cap said: _one-way trip._ Clint had just been starting to think he might like the guy.

The silence over the comms felt almost smothering. Or possibly that was a result of Clint’s brain going a little foggy for a minute. He jerked back to full consciousness when there were several shouts in his ear. Clint could make out enough to know that Stark had given Death the middle finger, the portal was closed, and the invading Chitauri were literally falling in their tracks.

_Well, that’s convenient,_ Clint thought, stifling a groan as he managed to roll onto his side. His body really didn’t appreciate the motion, and Clint’s brain went grey again for a few moments. River’s voice roused him.

_“Clint? Clint, come in. Are you all right?”_

Clint grinned. “You did it.”

She’d closed the portal. Saved the day. Invasion over. Score one for the good guys.

_“Thanks to you getting Loki off my ass,”_ she replied. _“Where are you? Amy says the roof you were on looks like it got blown apart.”_

“Had to bail out,” Clint said. “I’m a few floors down. Some office.”

He was trying not to sound pained and knew he was failing miserably. The concern in River’s voice was carefully restrained given the number of people on their channel.

_“How badly are you hurt?”_

“I’ve been worse.”

_“That’s not exactly a great endorsement,”_ River said. _“Rory? Are you out there?”_

_“Yeah,”_ Rory chimed in. _“I can see the window he went through. I’m on my way.”_ Clint could hear an indistinct voice in the background. _“Correction, Thor and I are on our way,”_ Rory said. _“Clint, don’t even think about moving until we get there, got it?”_

“Jesus, you’re a bossy family,” Clint muttered.

_“What was that?”_

“Nothing.” Clint’s head lolled tiredly against that awful mauve carpet. “I’ll wait right here.”

*****

_Just Outside Stark’s Penthouse_

In the Doctor’s vast experience, the winners of great battles all wore the same sort of look in the immediate aftermath of the fight. It wasn’t a flush of victory, nor was it even the quiet satisfaction of a job well done. No, they all tended to come out of the trenches looking like two-day-old kippers. Clint and River and their newfound allies were no exception. 

Clint looked by far the worst, the Doctor thought. It was probably only by the grace of that analgesic Rory had picked up on Vlantar Prime that he was up and walking. River was running a close second. There was a decided hitch in her gate when she came forward to wrap her arms around Clint, and half of her hair was matted with blood. 

The more super-powered among them had only faired a little better. Captain Rogers was bruised and bloody. Tony Stark had pasted on a cocky smile to mask the fact that he was only a few short steps away from having a good shaking fit. Thor and Dr. Banner’s green alter ego were in better shape, but even they were dragging their feet a bit.

“Well, I’m of half a mind to send all of you straight to bed,” the Doctor said, looking over the assembly. 

Amy and Rory rolled their eyes. Clint and River grinned tiredly. All the others, even the Hulk, just looked extremely confused. Of course, they’d had less exposure to the Doctor’s particular brand of humor than the other four.

“Or not,” the Doctor added.

“I’m not opposed to the idea, but there’s one more thing we need to take care of,” Rogers said.

The Captain led the way into the penthouse. Amy and Rory made to follow the others, but the Doctor reached out and caught them each by an arm, halting them.

Captain Rogers looked back at them quizzically. “Doctor? Aren’t you coming?”

The Doctor shook his head, ignoring the clear puzzlement that was being directed at him by both of his companions.

“No,” he said. “This was your win. You lot, you go and finish it.”

Rogers frowned, but didn’t argue. “Okay, you heard the man.”

The Doctor watched them go in together: River and Clint, Rogers, Stark, Thor, and Dr. Banner. One last job to do before they could rest.

“What are you smiling so big about?” Amy asked.

It was an odd time to be smiling, for certain. Midtown Manhattan had nearly been destroyed today. People were dead, hurt, homeless. Moreover, though humanity probably hadn’t processed it yet, Earth’s certainty about its place in the Universe had been shaken to its very foundation.

And yet, out of that, they had witnessed the birth of something amazing. The Doctor had been right. Today _was_ a turning point.

“Avengers. Assembled.”

 

_The End. . . for now._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This marks the conclusion of Phase 2 of _The Marvelous Tale of an Agent, an Archer, and an Assassin._
> 
> I'll be taking a brief hiatus to catch my breath an build up some more draft, but there are still a lot of stories lined up to be told! There will be a quick, one-fic Phase 2.5 dealing with the immediate aftermath of the Avengers movie. After that it will be full steam ahead into Phase 3. 
> 
> Phase 3 will deal with the changes brought about by the Battle of New York. It will also deal heavily with River's birth and origins, and her long awaited "reunion" with her parents, Amy and Rory.
> 
> Stay tuned!


End file.
